Too late for responsibility? Dialogic prompts for responsible decision-making in agricultural research for development

Context Despite efforts for agricultural innovations to reach scale, they often do not achieve socially and environmentally desirable impacts. In response, several frameworks, methods, and tools have been developed to promote Responsible Scaling. However, they do not integrate responsible decision-making throughout the entire trajectory of agricultural research for development (AR4D). Anticipatory planning and reflexive learning opportunities remain limited, and innovations risk being designed in isolation from intended users and dynamically changing contexts. Objective This paper serves as a call to action for researchers and practitioners to consider dimensions of Responsible Innovation – anticipation, inclusion, reflexivity and responsiveness (AIRR) – across the entire innovation and scaling trajectory. Methods Based on a narrative literature review, we introduce a novel Responsible Innovation and Scaling framework (RIS) as well as exemplary methodologies, methods, and dialogic prompts that help embed RIS across AR4D. Results The novel RIS framework consists of four iteratively interacting phases: collaborative ideation and development, flexible innovation packaging, co-implementation, and dynamic evaluation. AIRR dimensions inform the selection of exemplary methodologies and methods and the use of dialogic prompts across these phases. We acknowledge that putting RIS into action depends on several conditions, i.e.: supportive leadership, interdependent capacities, and spaces of collective learning, such as communities of practice. Significance The RIS framework, relevant methodologies, methods, and dialogic prompts are intended to help researchers and practitioners interrogate assumptions, identify trade-offs, foster inclusion and flexibility, and navigate power dynamics to guide responsible decision-making across innovation and scaling processes in AR4D.