Where complex behavioral change is needed, or when it is unclear how to target or implement a program, learning should be built into the implementation approach. Key stakeholders disagreed whether CBRLM was the type of pilot that was adaptive in order to hone an effective approach, or a fully packaged program being tested for scale. As reflected in the evaluation report, the implementer learned and iterated throughout the program about how to get communities and individual farmers to participate and in other ways, so it was certainly adaptive in some respects. Adaptation can be critical to developing a program that can ultimately be scaled. Thus, future adaptive programs should ensure they have the appropriate structures in place to learn while implementing and to do so efficiently. Such structures might include (i) staff with the appropriate skills to understand the cultural, social, ecological, economic, or other dynamics that affect take-up decisions and upstream behavior change; (ii) periodic opportunities to take stock of what has and has not gotten traction, and why; and (iii) designs that are simpler and implemented on a smaller scale to facilitate the learning process and lower the stakes of failure.
Lesson Learned