Enabling the Success of Social and Behavior Change Communication and Social Marketing NGOs: Recommendations from the Expert Consultation on High-Performing Social and Behavior Change Communication and Social Marketing Organizations

They possess in-depth cultural knowledge, enabling them to design effective programs and build long-standing trusting relationships with local communities. Local NGOs are often led by individuals from the communities they serve, who possess a passion and persistence to assist and improve those communities. Strong and established local NGOs also possess institutional memory and relationships within the national health system, allowing them to influence policy and decision-makers. Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) and social marketing NGOs face unique challenges. Many local NGOs working in a specific health area fall under donors' vertical funding streams, whereas SBCC and social marketing NGOs often cut across multiple health areas with variable visibility in each. Their work is often integrated into a larger project, resulting in limited understanding for and recognition of their efforts. Local SBCC and social marketing NGOs must engage in resource mobilization while also educating donors and advocating about their field. The Expert Consultation on High-Performing Social and Behavior Change Communication and Social Marketing Organizations brought together approximately 40 participants representing 11 local SBCC and social marketing NGOs from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and eight international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). The consultation explored two questions: What factors are most likely to enable the success and sustainability of local SBCC and social marketing NGOs? How can local NGOs, INGOs, and donors work together most effectively to assure the success and sustainability of local NGOs working in the field of SBCC and social marketing? The guidance document is intended for NGOs based in lower and middle-income countries that specialize in or have a significant portion of their work focused on SBCC and/or social marketing. The primary audiences for this guidance are local SBCC and social marketing NGOs interested in improving their own or other local organizations' functioning at every stage of development, INGOs that partner with local SBCC and social marketing NGOs on project implementation, and representatives from donor agencies involved in designing or funding projects that involve local SBCC or social marketing NGOs. The guidance objectives are to enable local NGOs to improve their own functioning at each stage of development and to support the development of other local NGOs, enable donor staff and INGOs to work more effectively with local NGOs to increase the success of the project and to increase capacity and sustainability of local NGOs, and assist donors to design more effective programs with local NGOs. The guidance is not intended as a comprehensive or step-by-step organizational development program but rather provides links to resources and networks that will prove useful to organizations looking to identify and address their organizational development needs.