Scaling Innovations in the public sector – Learning Network – Q3 2022

In this third installment of newsletters for 2022, we’re excited to share news of Learning Network events that took place in the last two months that centred on transitioning solutions to governments. As we look forward, save the date to attend a joint workshop between the Learning Network and ExpandNet on frameworks and tools for supporting the scaling of innovations in the public sector. Finally, in our survey, we’d love to hear from you our members how well our engagement strategies are meeting your informational needs.

Sustainably’ was on the agenda at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH’s global Green Innovation Centres for the Agriculture and Food Sector project workshop in Feldafing, Germany (August 8-12th). VillageReach ran a session that explored the important question of how to sustainably transition solutions to government ownership, looking at a rich portfolio of digital solutions implemented and supported by the Green Innovation Centres in their 15 partner countries across Asia and Africa.

During the session – focused on The Journey to Scale with Government – participants learned a lot and had some fun as we considered key learnings, introduced practical tools, and led an exercise that tested the participants’ readiness to transition live projects!

Participants included representatives from the Nigerian and Zambian governments, GIZ staff, NGOs, and the private sector. Eugene Anakwe, a government representative from Nigeria, remarked that not only should government be involved from the onset of a project, but should also participate throughout and slowly build activities into budgets, so that transition to government ownership is a gradual and thoughtful process rather than an abrupt one. A Zambia government representative, Ann Kantanga, noted that the approaches presented by VillageReach can help governments check whether potential partners fulfill relevant criteria for further cooperation.

GIZ’s workshop is a great example of how donors are thinking about sustained impact and the need for intentional management of transition to governments and partners.

As the second workshop in the series of Learning Network events designed to amplify the voice of governments and contribute toward a mindset shift in funders and implementing partners supporting the transitioning of scaling of innovations to the public sector, the goal of this workshop is to contribute to the creation of a framework that shows how the shift in thinking, methods, and execution build a functional system that supports scaling of solutions in the public sector.

Key highlights from the session were on

Readiness to scale: where Dr. Luwe (Ministry of Health of Malawi) spoke about the importance of gaining the trust of the community as an integral part of transitioning from pilot to scale. Funder representatives Laura Nel (J&J Foundation) and Katie Januario (Conrad N. Hilton Foundation) both concurred on how the scaling effort should be driven by the government, and how funders need to shift the balance in power, listen more and allow governments the space to lead. Dr. Michele Youngleson (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, South Africa) shared lessons on the importance of testing the transition to scale during the pilot phase. Dr. Yogan Pillay (Clinton Health Access Initiative in South Africa) cited an example from South Africa where the courts had to be invoked to scale treatment for HIV when the government was not ready.

Configuration/organization to scale: where Dr. Yogan Pillay (Clinton Health Access Initiative in South Africa) shared lessons on mechanisms for implementing partners to create better alignment between government and funders. Easter Okello (Lake Region Economic Bloc in Kenya), Olufunke Fasawe (Clinton Health Access Initiative in Nigeria), and Dr. Monica Oguttu (Kenya Medical Education Trust) shared the importance of multisectoral collaboration to build public sector capacity.

Watch the video recording to follow the full discussion.

As a build-up to the Transformative Leadership Workshop held in July, Spark Health Africa and ExpandNet are collaborating on a joint workshop on 20 September 2022 at 5 pm CAT on ‘ExpandNet/WHO Frameworks and Tools as enablers of Public Sector Scaling of Innovations.’

During this session, we will hear from government actors (namely, Ms. Easter Okello of the Lake Region Economic Bloc of Kenya, and Mr. Edward Kataika of the East, Central, and Southern Africa Health Community) that are leading and implementing partners (namely, Mr. Paul Nyachae of The Challenge Initiative East Africa Hub) that are supporting the scaling of innovations/solutions in the public sector to share challenges they have faced or are currently facing when transitioning from piloting their interventions to scaling them for impact.

The purpose of this workshop is twofold, namely, to i) increase awareness of the Learning Network on Scaling Innovations in the Public Sector Across Sub-Saharan Africa amongst other global scaling networks, but more importantly, ii) to increase technical skills amongst members of the Learning Network on Scaling Innovations in the Public Sector Across Sub-Saharan Africa and scaling practitioners across the globe on how best to adopt and adapt the ExpandNet/WHO scaling framework and tools to their contexts.

Register here to join the Workshop on Tuesday 20 September 2022 at 5 pm CAT.