Scaling up social innovation : the case of Escuela Nueva in Colombia and BRAC education programme in Bangladesh

Abstract

The scaling-up process of social innovation is uncertain and unclear. Some solutions can work properly in a limited territory but find it hard to scale up, while others grow well but encounter difficulties in being sustained. This research created a systemic analytical framework to explore the variables that catalyze the scaling-up process, the critical junctures that enhance new forms of growth, and the complexities of social innovations at scale. This framework was applied to two social innovations in the education sector: the BRAC Education Programme of Bangladesh, which scaled up parallel to the state, and Escuela Nueva (New School) of Colombia, which grew within the public education system.

The objective of this thesis is to understand how these social innovations scaled up. The analysis included six variables: 1) design, 2) organizational and learning capacities, 3) funding, 4) monitoring, 5) common agenda, and 6) policy and politics, as well as three different forms of scaling up: 1) expansion, 2) collaboration, and 3) replication. Through an in-depth case study approach, the growth process of these cases was analyzed.

In the current literature, scaling up is largely seen as a nonlinear process. The findings of this research, however, show a linear process with reference to the forms of growth. Both social innovations first went through expansion, then collaboration, and afterwards replication. In addition, the two cases experienced three similar critical junctures: 1) the window of opportunity, 2) getting ready, and 3) uncertainty or scaling down. Even though the two programs followed similar routes, forms, and critical junctures, there were different variables and actors that contributed to each stage. The policy and politics variable was the most dissimilar between the two cases. In the Colombian case, it advanced the scaling-up process, while in Bangladesh case it contributed to the scaling-down process.

Each form of scaling up also introduced differences in the governance dynamics and the capacity of the social initiatives to be sustained and adapted at scale. The findings of this research indicate that when public sector-led social innovation explores collaboration through mutual understanding and shared resources, they can develop governance structures that assure sustainability and adaptation regardless of any political transition. Yet when private sector-led social innovation employs collaboration, its capacity to control and monitor the model can be reduced. Both public and private-led social innovation, when focus on replication, may encounter complexities in sustaining, adapting, and governing ideas at scale. In addition they become highly vulnerable to political transitions and funding constraints. As the scaling-up procedure evolves, more actors participate, creating complexities of ownership, diffusion, and funding between state and non-state actors.