DKT International is a registered, non-profit organization founded in 1989 to focus the power of social marketing on some of the largest countries with the greatest needs for family planning, HIV/AIDS prevention and safe abortion. By doing so, DKT has achieved tremendous health impact, and done it cost-efficiently. Although we work mostly in the private sector, we also support the public sector, often partnering with government health facilities to reach the total market.
Scale: DKT is one of the largest private providers of family planning products in the world, having generated over 48.6 million couple years of protection (CYPs) in 2020. Five of the ten largest contraceptive social marketing programs in the world are DKT programs. As of 2020, DKT has offices in 24 countries, with a sales presence in 60 countries.
Business-oriented NGO: DKT is an NGO that thinks like a business: We use business skills to address social ills, namely maternal and child mortality and HIV/AIDS. We create brands of contraceptives and other health products to advertise and sell as consumer goods. We have found that this approach inspires more people to use contraception, as many people prefer to access these services through the private sector.
Significant cost-recovery: We recover a significant portion of our expenses through sales: Revenue from products and services covers approximately 70% of our operating costs. This insulates us from changing political climates and donor funding priorities, and gives us increased autonomy. Each year, our donor cost per CYP hovers around the $2.00 mark. This low cost per CYP is made possible through our most sustainable programs — including Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines — as well as our low overhead costs.
Focus on transparency: We are relentlessly transparent, both in our results and finances. At the bottom of every page on this website, you will find a link to “Commitment to Transparency” and “Financial Statements.” We have a page on “Results” on this website (find it under “Resources”). Check us out and let us know at [email protected] if you have questions or ideas on how we can be more transparent.
Mission
Through dynamic social marketing, DKT provides couples with affordable and safe options for family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention.
DKT works to:
- Increase the availability and affordability of a full spectrum of modern birth control methods
- Strengthen the supply chain to increase availability of contraception and improve method mix variety
- Increase demand and inspire new contraceptive users through advertising and educational campaigns
Vision
DKT is an innovative and adventurous social marketing enterprise that improves people’s lives.
The Name DKT
DKT International is named in honor of D.K. (Deep) Tyagi, who served as assistant commissioner of Family Planning for the Government of India. Mr. Tyagi was the architect of an extensive communication and behavior change program that introduced modern methods of family planning to hundreds of millions of Indians. Although he died at the young age of 41, Mr. Tyagi made a major contribution to his country’s family planning efforts.
It was he who was largely responsible for the design and dissemination of a massive communication program that brought awareness and knowledge of family planning to hundreds of millions of Indians. He began his work at a time (1966) when modern contraceptives methods were virtually unknown in rural India. His success in saturating the country with simple, attractive messages and designs (including the Red Triangle, which is now in use in several other countries) overcame age-old communication barriers and greatly increased public awareness of birth control.
As an Indian with close ties with his own village in Uttar Pradesh, he saw a basic incongruity between national family planning goals and traditional aspirations of rural Indians and his work did much to bridge this gap.
