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Replicating Model Programs is a Good Way to Expand Social Policy Projects
Knowledge diffusion via a generic replication organization
Replication and Program Strategies, in Philadelphia, tested whether a nonprofit consulting and technical assistance organization could effectively serve as a generic replicator for model programs from a wide array of social policy arenas ranging from health to education to employment training.
Replication, the process of expanding a model program to additional sites, has long been viewed as a desirable method for multiplying the impact of social policy projects, yet few systematic efforts have ever been undertaken to learn how best to accomplish it or even to organize and manage replication of specific models.
Key Results
Replication and Program Strategies:
- Formed and raised sufficient capital to finance its activities.
- Produced a variety of materials aimed at sharing the diffuse body of social program knowledge and experience to facilitate successful replication or program expansion.
- Carried out several 6- to 12-month projects to assist the replication of well-regarded programs, and beginning in 1995, forged longer-term relationships with a number of other programs.
- Provided technical assistance to 50 of the more than 100 programs that came to its attention during this time.
Funding
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided $200,000 in funding between March 1994 and November 1996.