Rigour, relevance, and relationships: insights on scaling with evidence from GSF's Impact at Scale Labs

• In Event: Bridging the evidence gap: from global demands to local realities

Proposal

Across low- and middle-income countries, education innovations are often developed in response to pressing local challenges. Yet even when interventions show promise, many fail to progress beyond pilot projects. The reasons are rarely singular: sustainability of financing, alignment with government priorities, political shifts, and institutional capacity. Evidence plays a critical role in this process, but not in isolation: it matters how evidence is created, used, and combined with other enabling conditions for scale.

At Global Schools Forum (GSF), we have explored these dynamics through our Impact at Scale Labs, which support an estimated 21 organisations as they move from innovation to scale, collectively reaching over 800,000 children. By combining coaching, funding, and partnerships, Labs supports the scaling journey directly while also generating wider insights into how scaling and evidence intersect, particularly how evidence can be built, adapted, and used to reinforce sustainability and integration into education systems.

One recurring insight is the balance between rigour and relevance. International standards often emphasise experimental or quasi-experimental methods to establish causality. While such studies are important, smaller local organisations often need support to build credible evidence earlier in their journey, before reaching the ‘gold standard.’ What is often needed in these moments are timely, decision-focused insights: Which elements of the model can travel across geographies? Which adaptations improve uptake without undermining fidelity? Flexible, layered approaches to evidence, beginning with rapid testing and adaptation feedback loops and building toward more rigorous evaluations, allow organisations to maintain credibility without stalling innovation.

A second lesson is the shift from proving “what works” to understanding “what lasts.” Pilots may demonstrate strong effects under controlled conditions, but scaling within real systems demands evidence on financial sustainability, system fit, and political feasibility and will. This means asking: Can the approach be financed at scale? How does it align with national priorities? What partnerships enable institutionalisation? In our work with organisations in Kenya, Ghana, and India, we have seen that evidence of cost-effectiveness and pathways to government adoption often carry more influence than impact estimates alone, especially for local organisations seeking to scale regionally.

A third set of insights highlights the role of relationships in making evidence actionable. Evidence gains traction when embedded in trusted partnerships between innovators, governments, and funders. Scaling requires not only generating data but also cultivating champions, co-designing with policymakers, and framing findings in policy-relevant language. For funders, this also means adapting reporting requirements so that evidence-building strengthens implementation rather than competes with it, and recognising that a narrow focus on ‘proven’ models can disadvantage emerging local solutions.

These lessons suggest that scaling impact is not simply about closing evidence gaps, but about aligning evidence with the broader conditions that allow innovations to endure. Early-stage feedback can guide adaptation; cost and feasibility studies can shape strategies; and rigorous evaluations can validate mature models. By sharing these insights from GSF's Labs, we aim to contribute practical reflections on how innovations can scale in ways that are credible, sustainable, and embedded within education systems.

Author

• Ratul Chowdhury, Global Schools Forum