Unlocking Contracting Pathways for Scaling Innovation
How A County in Kenya is Charting a Path for Scaling Health Innovation through the Public Sector
As an ecosystem facilitator operating at the nexus of innovation supply and demand, the Million Lives Collective (MLC) not only aggregates and amplifies high impact innovation, but supports the articulation of demand to matchmake suitable innovations to meet that demand.
Through our Ecosystem Supply Catalyst work, supported by Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), we have been amplifying the capacity of scale-ready innovators seeking public sector scaling pathways and governments that are increasingly interested in partnering with them, to form high impact partnerships.
Two years ago, we developed a Public Sector Scaling Readiness checklist that has been used as a starting point by governments to develop criteria for their scaling strategy. Yet, we realise that even when there is strong political will, evidence of impact, and alignment with public priorities, the pathway for governments to adopt, contract, and fund innovation remains unclear. As a result, promising solutions get stuck in pilot mode because there is no shared understanding of how innovation moves from experimentation into routine public service delivery or how public-sector funding can be mobilised to cement those partnerships.
This gap is exactly why MLC cares about ecosystem-level work, not just matchmaking individual innovations to demand. And it’s why we have developed a new technical brief on Public-Sector Innovation Contracting, grounded in the experience of Kisumu County, Kenya.
Over the past four years, Kisumu county government has been intentionally exploring how innovations can enter the public system, how they are tested, and how they are ultimately adopted and resourced. Rather than relying on one-off projects or donor-led pilots, Kisumu has been building structured ways for innovators to work with government — and for government – to confidently take ownership of solutions that work.
For the MLC, Kisumu’s experience speaks directly to the questions we hear from innovators in our community:
How do I scale through a public sector and move from MoU to to procurement?
What does government actually need to say yes?
How do public funds get unlocked to sustain impact?
This brief outlines the process one county has developed and exemplified to collaborate with innovators to institutionalise solutions together, making it possible to adapt different public-private engagement models appropriate to resourcing innovations.
Kisumu’s experience offers insights for any government or ecosystem actor working to embed innovation in public systems. The lessons in this brief outline models and practical examples to both government and innovators to inform procurement decisions, from the need for governments to build enabling structures to partner with innovators, to the need for innovators to align with policy priorities, to creative approaches for flexible contracting and procurement that can be adapted to different contexts. This document illustrates how governments can play a catalytic role in scaling innovations that improve lives, especially when procurement and partnership are seen as tools for transformation, not just transactions.
As the Million Lives Collective continues to spotlight demand-driven innovation across Africa and beyond, Kisumu’s journey reminds us that scaling impact requires more than great ideas. It takes committed public partners willing to learn, adapt, and lead.
Want to learn more?
Read the full brief: Feasibility of Scaling Health Innovations through the Public Sector: Approaches to Unlocking Contracting Pathways for Innovation – Kisumu County Experience
