Applying the Scale+ Method - Guides

"Fundamental to SCALE+ is the idea that project strategies that increase cross-sector stakeholder participation in project decisions and support collective action are more capable of fostering systemwide transformation."

This set of guides is designed to assist organisations in implementing the SCALE+ approach, a local-systems-driven methodology designed to accelerate broad stakeholder engagement and collective action addressing complex development issues. The guides focus on the five components that are key to implementing the methodology: investing in collaboration, mapping the system, formulating a common agenda, advancing collective action, and measuring results. 

The objective of the SCALE+ methodology is to offer a process for approaching development challenges from multidisciplinary perspectives and with stakeholders from multiple sectors, with the ultimate purpose of bringing about broad and sustained collective impact. It can help project managers design and invest more efficiently in smart, enduring solutions to problems. The size of the system to be transformed can be as large as a geographical region encompassing several countries or as small as a rural village.

SCALE+ is being refined, adapted and applied by FHI 360 and is based on the original development of SCALE in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2004. SCALE+ has been applied by FHI 360 in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East within agriculture, health, tourism, education, fisheries, and economic development programmes.

Three principles are fundamental to SCALE+:

• Apply a systems lens to identify and leverage local resources and partners - SCALE+ is based on "systems thinking", which embraces the need to understand how diverse forces and structures influence a complex development issue so that committed groups can work effectively towards a commonly agreed-on objective. To change or transform a system requires more than action at a unilateral level, or even at several discrete points, because the system functions as a web of mutual relationships.
• Build and invest in social capital - Donor-funded projects are accountable for measuring sector-specific results. SCALE+ also specifies indicators to help evaluate progress toward improved stakeholder relationships and increased social capital. Social capital - or the strength of bonds within each group, as well as the bridges to other groups within a defined network - is essential for stimulating collective action within a system and for sustaining that process over time.
• Use strategic communications to facilitate locally-driven development - The project model for addressing locally-driven solutions used by many development programmes is to enter into formal partnerships with a few congenial groups - not with the whole array of sometimes competing institutions and forces. SCALE+ seeks to change this and begins with a mapping of the whole system and is designed to engage local energy, local resources, local intelligence, and mutual accountability to analyse a problem and act. The role of strategic communications is to not just enhance the project's visibility but to coordinate and align the commitments of all system actors and accelerate the momentum for collective action.

To assist with the implementation of SCALE+, the following five guides offer information and activities/advice on how to implement each of the five components of the SCALE+ approach. Some components occur in sequence, and some are supported continuously throughout a project and beyond.  

1. Applying the SCALE+ Method: Invest in Collaboration [PDF] - This guide focuses on applying a systems lens to reach across sectors to engage as many actors and relationships in a system as possible. It requires adopting a systems-thinking mindset and underlies every component of the approach. Investing in collaboration for SCALE+ means to:
   • Promote a mind shift;
   • Expand perspectives; and
   • Harness dynamic intelligence.
2. Applying the SCALE+ Method: Map the Local Ecosystem [PDF] - This component involves defining issues, geographies, and vertical and horizontal linkages among stakeholders - determining the issues and stakeholders linked to the development challenge. SCALE+ recommends continuously mapping throughout the project to improve understanding and expand reach. By mapping the system, this step enables implementers to:
   • Identify existing and new stakeholders;
   • Capture system demands; and
   • Appreciate interconnectivity and leverage points.
3. Applying the SCALE+ Method: Formulate a Common Agenda [PDF] - This component involves engaging stakeholders to determine their common goals and to plan for collective actions. This component is a continuous process within SCALE+ and is an essential strategy for building social capital. Guidance is offered on how to:
   • Commit to shared goals;
   • Catalyse coalitions; and
   • Determine pathways to system transformation.
4. Applying the SCALE+ Method: Advance Collective Action [PDF] - This guide describes how a project team works with cross-sector stakeholders linked to the development challenge to implement collective actions, broaden collaboration, and expand the impact of project technical assistance. While continuously investing in collaborative actions, mapping, and formulating a common agenda, the project continuously promotes and advances collective action throughout the system. This stage in the SCALE+ process assists stakeholders to:
   • Coordinate and collaborate;
   • Apply social change methodologies;
   • Provide demand-driven technical assistance; and
   • Improve information flow.
5. Applying the SCALE+ Method: Measure Results [PDF] - This component involves assessing sector-specific impacts and the strength of social networks for improved decision making and the impacts from collective action on the system as a whole. In particular, SCALE+ helps in designing indicators and supporting participatory monitoring and evaluation processes to:
   • Monitor collaboration;
   • Reassess social capital; and
   • Highlight successes.

More information on SCALE+ can also be found on a dedicated SCALE+ website.