aes24 International Evaluation Conference

Authors: John Gargani (Gargani + Co)

The world has never faced larger problems—climate change, refugee crises, and Covid19, to name just three. And organizations have responded by scaling solutions to unprecedented size—sustainable development goals, global refugee policies, and universal vaccination programs. But scaling is a journey to a destination imperfectly imagined at the onset and difficult to recognize upon arrival. At what point is scaling a program, policy, or product successful? Under what conditions should scaling stop? Or "descaling" begin? Robert McLean and I posed these and other questions to innovators in the Global South and shared what we learned in our recent book *Scaling Impact: Innovation for the Public Good*. In this session, we outline the book's four research-based scaling principles—justification, optimal scale, coordination, and dynamic evaluation. Then we discuss how to (1) define success as achieving impact at optimal scale, (2) choose a scaling strategy best suited to achieve success, and (3) judge success with dynamic evaluation. My presentation goes beyond the book, reflecting our most current thinking and research, and I provide participants with access to free resources, including electronic copies of the book.