Local South works to create sustainable, dynamic, and liveable cities in the Global South.
Using local and pragmatic approaches, we support people and organisations working at the nexus of the public and private sectors in the urban context.
As a social enterprise and consultancy, we work to unlock and localise ideas with those who - like us - believe in the enormous potential of Global South cities.
With over a decade of experience across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, our work cuts across some of the most pressing urban and climate issues, such as mobility, informality, public space, and food systems.
Based between South Africa and Colombia, we collaborate with governments, businesses, multi-lateral institutions, foundations, and international and local non-profit organisations.
Our clients and partners include:
What we do:
1. URBAN INTERVENTIONS
We turn ideas into practical application where they matter most - on the street, in your neighbourhood. We co-create, design, and implement placemaking initiatives and urban experiments that help transform life in our cities.
Our story
Over more than ten years, we founded and led prominent civil society organizations, managed global multi-country development programs, and worked directly across a wide range of issues in Latin America and Africa.
We launched Local South as a socially-driven company to build on this experience, developing an approach that is focused on the neighbourhood level, welcoming of complexity, and built on connecting comparable contexts in the Global South.
Marcela Guerrero Casas
Marcela was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, and has lived and worked in South Africa since 2006. Marcela is a co-founder and former managing director at Open Streets Cape Town (OSCT). She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Mobility.
Marcela holds a Masters in Public Administration and International Affairs from Syracuse University and has worked in policy and advocacy for over a decade. Marcela worked as programme lead at the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership (EDP).
Dustin Kramer
Dustin was awarded a global fellowship by the Social Change Initiative, Belfast, worked as a full-time international advocacy consultant for the International Budget Partnership in Washington D.C., and until 2017 led one of South Africa's foremost social movements, the Social Justice Coalition.
Dustin holds an MPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) from the University of Cape Town.
