Maximizing the Impact of Projects in Smallholder Coffee Farmer Communities: Three Scaling Strategies
In the world of development projects, success is not just about initial achievements—it's about creating long-term, sustainable impact. Smallholder coffee initiatives often begin with promising results, helping farmers improve productivity and enhance their livelihoods. However, if we want to turn these early wins into lasting change, scaling activities are essential. Without follow-up efforts to expand the reach and deepen the impact of these projects, the potential for transformative change remains limited. This is where strategic investments from donors become crucial. In this blog post, we’ll explore how setting up smallholder coffee projects with scalability in mind can ensure their enduring influence, drawing lessons from our work with the International Coffee Partners (ICP) in Tanzania. We’ll outline three key strategies for scaling that can unlock the full potential of these initiatives, making the case for why donor support is essential to drive real, lasting impact.
- Scaling Deep
- Scaling Wide
- Scaling Beyond
Well-designed projects lay a solid foundation and create a critical mass of change agents, but to ensure that this impact is both lasting and broad, scaling is important”, says Professor Dr. Christiana Weber, who assessed the long-term impact of the above project as part of a tracer study, the result of which we present here.
1. Scaling Deep: Customized Support for Lasting Change
What? The strategy of deep scaling aims to improve the sustainability of projects by providing customized and reliable support within and beyond the project period.
Why? Projects initiate changes in practices and behaviors. To have a lasting impact, these changes need to be applied consistently and over the long-term. Such a process requires both time and active commitment, as new ideas and habits take time to root. Therefore, without effective exit strategies, changes initiated during the project may not be sustained. “From the outset, it is important to consider how to maintain the structures created during the project”,says Morgan Mkonyi, Co-Country Manager of HRNS in Tanzania. A second key factor for the sustainability of change, and therefore the success of projects, is the consideration of individual needs and interests, as well as the cultural context. If, for example, farmer field schools do not use a pre-defined curriculum, but are flexible to individual and cultural characteristics, farmer interest and engagement are likely to increase.
How?
- Regular backstopping to farmers and trainers after project completion: “Support beyond the project period can be less intensive, but should be reliable and regular, lasting at least three years, so that farmers can rely on ongoing exchange and coaching as they adopt new practices”, explains Prof. Weber. This could take the form of open question rounds and individual coaching, for example. However, such a long-term support requires additional funding and is often difficult purely for logistical reasons. “Also, strictly speaking, to ensure sustainability, organizations should not be training farmers after the end of a project, it should rather be local actors”, adds Kirsten Ehrich, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Manager at HRNS. For this reason, an app that provides farmers with all the information they need when adopting new practices might be a cost-effective and efficient alternative. In September, HRNS breaks new ground by launching the coffee&climate toolbox, a digital training platform for smallholder farmers on good agricultural practices. “In the new ICP project phase, we equip trainers with smartphones and familiarize them with the app from the outset so that they can continue to advise farmers even beyond the project period”, Ehrich says.
- Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E):Another way to provide customized support is to replace the regular monitoring and evaluation process with PM&E. This method involves farmers visiting other farmers to assess and advise on their peers’ practices. In this way, they learn from each other and ownership is fostered. These visits are attended not only by trainers, but also by project staff, which provides further quality assurance and gives farmers the opportunity to ask questions directly to the project team. The HRNS team in Uganda has already successfully implemented PM&E, and now trains other HRNS teams on this method.
- Adapting projects to individual and cultural specificities: It is recommended to build a certain flexibility into the project activities, especially if there are diverse backgrounds in the project region. “For example, we found that gender approaches were less successful in southern Tanzania than in the north due to polygamous traditions in the south”, says Prof. Weber. HRNS will therefore explore other approaches to adapt the gender approaches to polygamous environments. In addition, in the new ICP project, staff are currently reviewing farmer profiles and then creating customized training offerings that match farmers’ interests and knowledge levels.
2. Scaling Wide: Creating Spill-over Effects
What? The strategy of scaling wide focuses on creating spillover effects so that best practices and innovations reach as many farmers as possible – even beyond the direct project beneficiaries.
Why? Efforts to cascade project interventions are critical because one organization can't reach every farmer. For example, they need to work with trainers or local networks.
How?
- Well-designed training-of-trainers approach: HRNS works closely with trainers. Experiences in the field have shown that the success of a project largely depends on the qualifications of the trainers, the monitoring of their work and the structures in which they operate. In previous ICP projects, the farmers themselves selected the trainers for the farmer field schools. “Unfortunately, this often resulted in poor performances”, concludes Mkonyi. The training-of-trainers approach has therefore been updated for the next project phase, inspired in particular by the SAfA project, where innovative approaches have already been successfully implemented. Trainers are now pre-selected by project staff, interviewed, and hired only if they meet criteria such as education level and community ties.
- Supporting farmer organizations: Well-functioning farmer organizations are key to cascading. Not only can they provide competent trainers, but also disseminate knowledge and best practices. Efforts to strengthen them are therefore essential.
- Leveraging existing social networks: When values and tribal structures are aligned with those of the project, new practices are more easily accepted and adopted. “In the ICP project area, we found that farmer training groups were particularly effective when they coincided with a tribal group,” explains Prof. Weber. It is therefore advisable to use existing local and traditional social networks as platforms for change and for providing change agents to increase the spread of best practices.
- Building partnerships: It is further recommended to establish partnerships with other NGOs, governmental institutions, educational providers and other stakeholders along the value chain to reach more farmers and initiate spillover effects into neighboring communities.
3. Scaling Beyond: Addressing Structural Obstacles
What? The strategy of scaling beyond involves advocating institutional and political changes that go beyond the direct influence of an organization.
Why? Structural obstacles, such as logistical challenges and financial barriers that cannot be addressed by the organization itself, can hinder the long-term success of smallholder projects. Identifying and addressing these blockers is critical for sustainable impact, otherwise the efforts of individual projects may be wasted.
How?
- Identifying blockers:The first step is to identify the obstacles that (may) stand in the way of a project's success by continuously monitoring a project. “In the ICP project, we found that a major obstacle to the project's impact was that most farmer cooperatives did not separate the different qualities of coffee, but mixed them together”, explains Prof. Weber. As a result, there was no incentive for the farmers to invest time, effort and money in introducing new agricultural practices and improving coffee quality.
- Approaching solution agents: As a next step, it is advisable to identify and approach solution agents, i.e. key political and sectoral players who are in a position to influence systemic factors, and offer them targeted assistance in developing relevant policies and agendas. “To address the issue of coffee blending in Tanzania, the ICP project team is now working more closely with relevant government institutions, such as the Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission”, explains Mkonyi. Cooperative leaders and government officials are invited to training sessions on different coffee qualities and how to achieve and market them. This should help to ensure that farmers who produce high quality coffee are better able to assert themselves and that the practice of sorting can take hold. In addition, the Quality Enhancement Approach, whereby farmers who produce high-quality coffee are registered and their coffee is marketed separately, will be further expanded in future.
Designing a comprehensive, project-specific scaling strategy from the outset hence can significantly increase the impact of projects. “We are very excited about the new ICP project phase, where we are putting a lot of new scaling measures in place. We're confident they'll boost the sustainable impact of the project”, concludes Godfrey Wilgod, Agronomy and Climate Coordinator at HRNS Tanzania.
In summary:
Achieving lasting impact in smallholder coffee projects requires careful planning for scalability from the start. By employing strategies such as scaling deep, scaling wide, and scaling beyond, projects can foster sustainable changes that reach far beyond their initial scope. Scaling deep ensures ongoing support and adaptability to local contexts, while scaling wide promotes the spread of best practices through networks and training. Scaling beyond addresses structural challenges that limit broader success. However, these scaling efforts rely heavily on continued donor investment to sustain progress and drive real, transformative change in farming communities. With well-designed scaling activities and strategic support, projects can unlock their full potential, creating a ripple effect of positive, long-term impact in smallholder coffee farming.
