Moving Toward Sustainability: Transition Strategies and Tools for Social Marketing Programs

The USAID-funded Private Sector Partnerships-One project, (PSP-One), published this Technical report, which is intended as a guide for the application of social marketing principles to the sustainability of health programmes, and in particular, to reproductive health and family planning projects. The complete package, for donors, programme developers, programme managers, researchers, and others in the social marketing field, is composed of the report, including five case studies, and three stand-alone documents: Sustainability Continuum for Social Marketing; Summary of Sustainability Strategies for Social Marketing Programs; and Checklist - Sustainable Social Marketing Self-Assessment Tool.

The guide offers social marketing organisations (SMOs) practical suggestions for moving donor-dependent social marketing programmes along the path of long-term viability. The focal point of the paper is a tool called the "Sustainability Continuum for Social Marketing", intended to inform decisions about the four primary components of sustainability: technical sustainability (including marketing), financial sustainability, institutional sustainability, and market sustainability.

Sustainability Continuum for Social Marketing [PDF] is printed in the format of a quick reference reference chart summarizing the four sustainability dimensions, along with illustrative indicators, over three distinct program phases (beginning, intermediate, advanced).

Summary of Sustainability Strategies for Social Marketing Programs [PDF] is a list of strategies discussed in detail in the guide.

Checklist - Sustainable Social Marketing Self-Assessment Tool [PDF] facilitates the staff or stakeholders’ analysis of an SMO to measure where it fits within the sustainability continuum and to set goals for strengthening sustainability along the continuum’s dimensions.