Pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the Horn of Africa face interconnected climatic, economic and institutional pressures that undermine livelihoods, food security and wellbeing. This narrative review examines how social mobilisation and social marketing can jointly strengthen collective agency, improve access to services and markets, and support sustainable use of livestock, environmental and cultural assets. It synthesises 25 purposively selected publications issued between 2020 and 2025, comprising empirical studies, scholarly literature, institutional guidance and regional policy documents. The thematic synthesis identifies six interconnected priorities: community ownership and accountable governance; audience insight and differentiated inclusion; feasible behavioural objectives and valued exchange; integrated services and fair commercial relationships; environmental and cultural stewardship; and livelihood, nutrition and risk protection. The findings indicate that knowledge and communication alone are insufficient to sustain beneficial practices where affordability, service reliability, mobility, resource rights and decision-making authority remain constrained. Collective organisation can strengthen coordination and bargaining power, but requires safeguards against exclusion and elite capture. Similarly, increased livestock sales cannot independently demonstrate improved wellbeing because livestock also support nutrition, breeding, savings and social security. The review proposes an iterative framework linking participatory diagnosis, accountable organisation, co-design, voluntary piloting, evidence-based expansion and continuous evaluation. Success should be assessed through sustained practice changes, net income, dietary outcomes, resilience, equitable control of benefits and resource condition. However, geographically uneven evidence and limited evaluation of combined interventions prevent causal conclusions about the framework’s effectiveness. Sustainable pastoral development therefore requires locally adapted testing that connects community influence with reliable services, fair markets and responsive institutions while protecting mobility, productive assets, cultural choice and voluntary livelihood diversification.