Preventing Youth Violence in El Salvador: A Relational Social Marketing Model

Abstract

In 2015 a partnership of two Italian and three Salvadorian NGOs launched “Niños Protagonistas” Project (NPP, www.ninosprotagonistas.org ), [“Protagonist Children”, in English], an integrated social marketing programme based on a relational model and financed by the Italian Government. Spanning across five Salvadorian cities, this programme intended to prevent and reduce teenagers’ involvement in maras (gangs). NPP used segmentation, integrated communications and marketing mix strategies to engage 908 youths and 287 teenagers, the latter throughout this 3-year project. With an ecological strategy including the environmental systems with which children interact, the campaign reached out to hundreds of parents, women and relevant stakeholders in order to promote a culture of inclusion and interpersonal peace, diminishing institutional and intra-family violence. In addition to its international outlook, the NPP case would help researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to apply social marketing principles and models to promote inclusion and social capital, especially among young people.