1. Partnership to Inform, Support and Enhance Health Promotion Programs R. Craig Lefebvre, PhD Health Promotion Conference Haifa University School of Public Health 25 February 2015 @chiefmaven 2. Roadmap to Partnerships Being prepared The social marketing context Research with partners (the neglected priority group) The ups and downs of partnerships Expected outcomes for successful ones Partnerships are social systems Six principles for success in your partnership efforts 3. Are You Ready for a Partnership? Clarity of purpose Commitment to use the process to inform your actions Adequate funding and staff to support the process Appropriate timing in relation to decisions Focus on implementation Commitment to self-assessment and learning from experience. 4. Nature of Partnerships Obligational Action Systemic 5. The Context for Partnerships Stages of the project life-cycle (needs assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation) Project type disease or behavior focus (heart disease, obesity), setting oriented (schools, worksites) and demographics of priority group (adolescents, elderly, woman, household income) Directional dynamics community-based or participatory models, imposed by funder 6. Source: Baron-Epel, O., Drach-Zahavy, A., & Peleg, H. (2003). Health promotion partnerships in Israel: motives, enhancing and inhibiting factors, and modes of structure. Health Promotion International; 18:15-23. 7. Partners: A Social Marketing Context Set behavioral objectives that are relevant and achievable by people. Identify, understand and develop insights into priority groups (segments) of people. Develop products, services and messages that encourage and support desired behavior changes. Address the costs and benefits for changing (or not changing) their current behaviors. Increase the opportunities and access for people to engage in the desired behaviors. Promote these behaviors, their benefits and opportunities at times, places and states-of-mind when people are most likely to attend and engage in them. 8. Develop products, services and messages that encourage and support desired behavior changes. Technology solutions Service providers 9. Address the costs and benefits for changing (or not changing) their current behaviors. Public water utilities Weight loss programs 10. Increase the opportunities and access for people to engage in the desired behaviors. Commercial building owners Owners of parking facilities 11. Promote these behaviors, their benefits when people are most likely to engage in them. Employee unions Business associations Farm supply companies 12. Partners: What They Want Increase the number of partners and stakeholders in order to expand distribution of products, services and messages. Provide marketing assistance. Conduct strategy checks to ensure that the partners activities are consistent with your brand. Define each organizations role more clearly. Develop a process for communication among partners. Resolve the incongruence between the levels and amount of staff support from various partners so that partners share equally in the work and responsibilities. Lefebvre RC. Partnerships for social marketing programs: An example from the National Bone Health Campaign. Social Marketing Quarterly, 2006; 12:41-54. 13. What Qualities Do You Look for in Potential Partners? Trust Their credibility with the audience Capability to raise awareness of priority group about the target behavior Ability to commit to partnerships Potential contribution toward sustainability Similar missions Mutually beneficial opportunities To fill a gap that exists within their own organization or program Aspire to one larger goal Ability to bring resources to the table Access to other partners Honest, open communication on goals and responsibilities Access to decision-makers within the organization Cultural competence Capabilities to disseminate information to target audience(s). Collaborate on the development of messages and materials Lefebvre RC. Partnerships for social marketing programs: An example from the National Bone Health Campaign. Social Marketing Quarterly, 2006; 12:41-54. 14. What Leads to a Win-Win Partnership? Honest and upfront about goals and objectives. Credibility. Commitment. Alignment of audience, desired behavior and collaborators. Consistency. Clear about expectations. See a return on investment (in some cases, not necessarily monetary). Feedback on results and whether the campaign accomplished its goals. Lefebvre RC. Partnerships for social marketing programs: An example from the National Bone Health Campaign. Social Marketing Quarterly, 2006; 12:41-54. 15. The Downsides of Partnerships Loss of control. You are the company you keep. Partnerships depend on personal relationships; staff turnover can work against partnership development. You cannot guarantee a long- term partnership with employee and board turnover of some groups. Organizational priorities may shift over time especially with staff turnover at various levels of participating organizations. Its important to meet expectations on both sides of the partnership. There is a learning curve to figure out how each partner works. Some organizations may not have infrastructure in place for a successful partnership. Identifying the win-win is hard because some partners may have hidden agendas. Often times its difficult and time consuming to identify the right contact. The languages of the organizations may be different government vs. non-profit vs. corporate and they need to be addressed. Lefebvre RC. Partnerships for social marketing programs: An example from the National Bone Health Campaign. Social Marketing Quarterly, 2006; 12:41-54. 16. Source: Baron-Epel, O., Drach-Zahavy, A., & Peleg, H. (2003). Health promotion partnerships in Israel: motives, enhancing and inhibiting factors, and modes of structure. Health Promotion International; 18:15-23. 17. Lessons Learned from Other Partnerships Review data and literature from other stakeholders. Review/address branding issues. Partners bring insights into priority groups, desired behaviors, incentives and costs, and distribution/promotion efforts. Spokespeople provided by credible partners enhance media coverage of an issue. Release of data from participating organizations about the campaigns progress generates better coverage. Various government campaigns on related or overlapping subject areas, priority groups and behaviors need to be aligned so that all campaigns can benefit from one anothers efforts. Lefebvre RC. Partnerships for social marketing programs: An example from the National Bone Health Campaign. Social Marketing Quarterly, 2006; 12:41-54. 18. Source: Donchin, M., Shemesh, A.A., Horowitz, P. & Daoud, N. (2006). Implementation of the Healthy Cities' principles and strategies: an evaluation of the Israel Healthy Cities Network. Health Promotion International; 21:266-273. 19. How Does a Partnership Add Value for the Customer? Increased visibility of the campaign Saturation of the market (ubiquity) Make the campaign more credible Have more tools for the audience to use and achieve behavior change Create more opportunities to engage in desired behaviors More options to overcome barriers and costs Lefebvre RC. Partnerships for social marketing programs: An example from the National Bone Health Campaign. Social Marketing Quarterly, 2006; 12:41-54. 20. Partnerships Are Social Systems New partnerships or coalitions require some degree of network density and centralization to get planning moving forward. Too much network density indicates that connections are directed within the group and do not provide sufficient pathways for information and behaviors to come from outside the group. Too much density leaves a coalition ineffective at mobilizing the resources it needs to adopt evidence- based prevention programs. Density may become a liability, because it insulates the coalition from new ideas or access to new resources. Valente, T.W., Chou, C.P. and Pentz, M.A. (2007) Community coalition networks as systems: Effects of network change on adoption of evidence-based prevention. American Journal of Public Health, 97: 880-886. 21. Six Principles for Success Visualize contributions and success. Initial commitment and periodic reassessments to the vision and the strategy. Adapt campaign needs and expectations to a partner organizations capacities and resources. Create interactions outside of the partnership relationship. Devote time and effort to marketing support. Demonstrate and publicize successes to partners, other stakeholders and the priority audiences. Lefebvre RC. Partnerships for social marketing programs: An example from the National Bone Health Campaign. Social Marketing Quarterly, 2006; 12:41-54.