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Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • Opinion
    • Produced in Partnership: Scaling Nutrition

    Video: Why 'scaling by subtraction' makes sense for development

    Achieving scale and ensuring sustainability are two of the biggest challenges facing development projects. Larry Cooley, president emeritus and senior adviser at Management Systems International, describes the "scaling by subtraction" approach and why it makes sense for development.

    By Naomi Mihara // 10 February 2020
    Watch the full video here. Via YouTube.

    The project approach to development has a range of benefits. But it also comes with challenges, especially around how to achieve scale and ensure sustainability.

    Larry Cooley, president emeritus and senior adviser at Management Systems International, has been investigating best practices for achieving large system change for the past 20 years. This has led to the creation of a community of practice for development practitioners focusing on the issue of scale and how to bring it about.

    More on scaling nutrition:

    ► Opinion: Scaling up multisectoral nutrition — the role of international NGOs

    ► Q&A: What does it take to create a nutrition program with lasting impact?

    ► Q&A: Why most nutrition programming is not scalable

    According to Cooley, the key to successful projects is making sure interventions fit into “the two platforms that can deliver sustainably at scale: governments and markets.” The only way a project can reach its full potential is by reducing complexity and thinking through all of the changes required to integrate an improvement into these larger, preexisting structures, he says.

    In this video opinion piece, Cooley shares his insights on successfully designing for scale, arguing for a more streamlined approach that puts “scaling by subtraction” at its core.

    To find out more about the Scaling Up Community of Practice, email scalingCOP@msi-inc.com.

    Take a closer look at what it takes to achieve scale in the nutrition sector.

    Explore the series.
    • Global Health
    • Project Management
    • MSI
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).
    The views in this opinion piece do not necessarily reflect Devex's editorial views.

    About the author

    • Naomi Mihara

      Naomi Mihara

      Naomi Mihara is an Associate Editor for Devex, working on creative and audiovisual projects. She has a background in journalism and international development, having previously served as an assistant correspondent for Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun and as a communications officer for the International Organization for Migration in Southeast Asia. She holds a master’s degree in Multimedia Journalism from Bournemouth University.

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