CGIAR Scaling Week 2026

22-24 September 2026. Nairobi, Kenya. CGIAR Scaling Week 2026.

More than 400 participants from over 40 countries and 100 organizations gathered at the International
Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus in Nairobi for CGIAR Scaling Week 2026, convened by the CGIAR Scaling for Impact Program. Researchers, governments, international financial institutions, funders, private-sector actors and delivery partners came together around a central challenge: how can promising innovations for food, land and water systems move beyond successful pilots and generate lasting impact at scale?

• Scaling Week Day 1: Inside the hive
• Scaling Week Day 2: The hard knocks of scaling, and how we rise
• Scaling Week Day 3: Impatient for scaling - Who pays, and what happens next?

Rather than following a conventional conference format, Scaling Week emphasized peer learning, practical problem-solving and partnership building. 

The programme combined three headline sessions with six Open Space blocks and more than 30 participant-led sessions. 

Topics ranged from:

• embedding CGIAR science in development finance and building public–private partnerships to responsible scaling in fragile settings, 
• equity and epistemic justice, 
• AI tools for scaling decisions, 
• climate finance, 
• strategic communications, 
• gender-responsive scaling, 
• demand-led seed systems and last-mile delivery.

The first day, organized around “The art of the ask,” encouraged participants to identify what they actually needed to move an innovation forward—whether finance, evidence, partnerships, policy support or access to delivery networks—and connect with people able to help. 

The second day, under the theme “Rise,” confronted the realities of scaling when promising ideas encounter institutional, financial or personal setbacks. Namukolo Covic, Saleef Nyambok and Emma Naluyima opened the day by sharing experiences of disrupted plans and difficult choices, setting the
scene for discussions about learning from failure and adapting scaling pathways.

The final day turned to the question “So what now?” A headline discussion, “Who pays for scale now? Nostalgia is not a strategy,” examined a changing development-finance landscape in which traditional aid budgets are under pressure while investment, trade, philanthropy and new partnerships are becoming increasingly important. 

Other sessions addressed connecting CGIAR innovations to investment pathways, scaling rice innovations across Africa and Asia, strengthening local champions, climate-smart agriculture and making scaling work for smallholder women.

A strong message emerging from Nairobi was that scaling is not simply about making an innovation bigger. Sustainable scaling requires understanding demand, institutions and local contexts; building coalitions; mobilizing appropriate finance; strengthening local delivery capacities; and ensuring that innovations remain inclusive and responsive to the people they are intended to serve. CGIAR Scaling Week therefore placed considerable emphasis on the systems and partnerships surrounding an innovation, rather than treating research outputs alone as the endpoint.