EVIHDAF is joining forces with ExpandNet, a global network of public health and development professionals established in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2003, to enhance capacity in scaling-up health and development innovations. EVIHDAF has identified and provided a team of 14 experts – including employees, consultants, and partners from seven Francophone West and Central African countries, namely, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. This diverse group is set to participate in an orientation on ExpandNet’s systematic scaling approach, strengthening their capacity to drive evidence-based expansion of successful interventions.
Scaling up is a deliberate effort to expand the impact of successfully tested innovations, ensuring broader populations benefit from proven interventions while fostering lasting policy and program development. Grounded in a system framework, ExpandNet’s approach is equipping EVIHDAF’s team and partners with the expertise to apply validated frameworks, tools, and principles essential for effective expansion and institutionalization of critical health and development interventions.
A detailed discussion of the framework can be found in the ExpandNet guidance tools Practical guidance for scaling up health service innovations and Nine steps for developing a scaling-up strategy.
By strengthening capacity and structured implementation strategies, EVIHDAF aims to support institutions/organizations with the process of expanding interventions to new geographic areas and populations, creating sustainable pathways for evidence-based solutions to drive meaningful change at scale. This effort aligns with global best practices for scaling, ensuring appropriate adaptation, institutionalization, and long-term sustainability.
Building a Scaling-Up Mindset
The collaboration’s primary objective is to foster a scaling-up mindset, ensuring that the team can integrate this approach across their work.
Key focus areas of building EVIHDAF collaborators’ scaling-up capacity include:
– Identifying major challenges in scaling and understanding why ExpandNet adopted a systematic approach
– Addressing scaling considerations from the design phase of pilot projects
– Exploring the nine-step approach for developing a robust scaling-up strategy
– Defining next steps for applying insights gained from the training sessions
Interactive Learning Approach
This initiative features six virtual interactive sessions held weekly from May to July 2025, designed to deepen the team’s understanding and application of systematic scaling principles.
The sessions are conducted in collaboration with EVIHDAF’s executive leadership and ExpandNet’s Secretariat, ensuring alignment with organizational and global scaling priorities. Additionally, facilitation is led by Francophone Africa ExpandNet experts, who bring region-specific insights to guide practical application.
Through this engaging and participatory format, team members are refining their approach to scaling, integrating evidence-based scaling approaches into their work to maximize impact across diverse contexts. The agenda includes:
- Presentations on scaling-up frameworks and methodologies
- Exercises & interactive discussions to draw out and reinforce partners’ learning
- Country-specific experience sharing in the application of WHO/ExpandNet scaling tools
Key Learning Outcomes
By the end of the sessions, the team will be able to:
- Identify global challenges and lessons learned in scaling health and development innovations, including best practices that have been proven effective
- Describe the systematic scaling framework , including essential terminology and key concepts
- Understand WHO/ExpandNet recommendations for integrating scaling principles from the earliest stages of project design and throughout implementation
- Apply the nine-step approach to develop a practical scaling strategy
- Strengthen EVIHDAF’s role in promoting a systematic scaling approach , from project design to implementation
- Engage in post-training follow-up through ExpandNet’s Scaling-Up Learning Center (SLC) for continued professional development
This initiative underscores EVIHDAF’s commitment to strengthening sustainable policies and programs while advancing the global dialogue on scaling up health and development innovations.
