When Donor Support Ends: The Fate of Social Marketing Products and the Markets They Help Create

Abstract

This article assesses the performance of social marketing interventions for oral contraceptives in Morocco and the Dominican Republic. These interventions were implemented under a model that has the potential to achieve sustainability; a donor-funded project partners with a manufacturer or distributor willing to market a contraceptive at a price lower than the prices of other commercial brands; the partnership makes it profitable for the commercial partner to continue the distribution and marketing of the contraceptive after donor support ceases. Multiple rounds of data from nationally representative surveys were analyzed to determine changes in the commercial sector share of oral contraceptives prior to and following the withdrawal of donor support. Particular attention was paid to changes in lower and middle income groups. In Morocco, the commercial sector share of oral contraceptives started increasing prior to the intervention and continued to do so after the withdrawal of donor support. These increases occurred for all women as well as for lower and middle income women. In the Dominican Republic, the commercial sector share of oral contraceptives increased among lower and middle income women during the period that social marketing activities were conducted and fluctuated in the period following withdrawal of donor support. The study suggests that if certain conditions are met, contraceptive social marketing interventions implemented under the manufacturer's model can contribute to a higher commercial sector share of a method among lower and middle income women and that these changes are sustainable after donor support has been withdrawn.