This research article proposes that organizations working to achieve sustainable development can better harness social marketing concepts, strategies, and tools to achieve their objectives. The article sought to generate evidence on the positioning of social marketing among organizations that have the mandate to advance towards sustainable development. The article also offers recommendations on how to facilitate the integration of social marketing in such organizations.

The article begins with a brief review of the literature on social marketing, where it sets out the three paradigms that guide the discipline: traditionalist, social ecologist and critical. It then provides an understanding of the emergence of the concept of sustainable development. Subsequently, the results of a review of institutional documents are presented to learn about the positioning of social marketing among international organizations. To complement these findings, the article also raises and analyzes two cases that show how organizations may be incorporating elements of social marketing on purpose or unknowingly. Specifically, the cases presented are the Saalema Initiative implemented in Sudan to address female genital mutilation, and the multi-country Sustainable Diets for All (SD4ALL) programme on sustainable diets and climate change carried out in Bolivia, Indonesia, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia. Based on the above, the article presents some reflections on how social marketing could be further integrated into organizations working towards sustainable development.

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