innovation

Ep084 - The Role of Communities in Designers' Development - Elsie Ralston and Cristian Situ

Today we are joined by Elsie Ralston and Cristian Situ, co-founders and Co-Executive Directors of Sur Global. From Peru, we’re discussing the key role communities play in the professional development of designers, the disparity in the maturity of design across the region, and how to create spaces with a local purpose that inspire learning, connection, and action.

Episode 164: Elsie Ralston & Alejandra Dancuart | Learning Communities

In this episode of the Command Z Podcast, I’m joined by Alejandra Dancuart and Elsie Ralston, co-founders of Sur Global, a project dedicated to responsible innovation. Alejandra has more than 10 years of experience in innovation, HR, and community building, creating programs that bridge the digital skills gap in Latin America and Europe, in addition to teaching in rural communities in Peru. Elsie, a writer and strategist based in Copenhagen, brings more than a decade of experience in strategic design and inclusive education; as Executive Director of Sur Global and editorial director of UNTOLD.ink, she drives educational experiences with tangible impact.

The Care Economy

The system has always talked about productivity, growth, and efficiency. But it has rarely talked about who truly sustains life. Care is also infrastructure. Care is also the economy. Care is also the future. Invisible, feminized, and often unpaid, care sustains households, communities, and entire cities. Ignoring it is not only unfair—it’s unsustainable. 📸Photos: Sahaj Patel, Sushanta Rokka, The New York Public Library, BenjaminChambon.

Community Innovation

There are other ways to think about the future: more local, more collaborative, and less dependent on systems that prioritize extraction over life. Community innovation shows that technology can also strengthen social ties, knowledge sharing, and help build collective autonomy. Photos: Andres Kishimoto

Invisible Infrastructure

The infrastructures that sustain life—water, soil, networks, care—and why innovation must strengthen them.

Learning from the South

What if innovation doesn’t come from where we’ve always been told it does? The Global South has been, and continues to be, a vibrant source of knowledge, adaptation, and innovation: agroecology, community governance, cultures of restoration. It’s not aid. It’s learning. The future is built through dialogue 🤝 Photos: Jacqueline Munguia, Oliver Kwembe, Leonardo Basso.

Transforming Organizations with Behavioral Science by Pamela Molero

The Uncomfortable Side of Innovation V

Innovation from the South: Value, Power, and Regeneration For years, technological innovation was presented as synonymous with progress. Neutral. Inevitable.

So now, how do we innovate?

A Brief History of the Latin American Future by Eduardo Marisca

In this edition of Sesiones Sur Global 2025, Eduardo Marisca invites us to examine how Latin America—and Peru in particular—has historically shaped its vision of the future.

Reclaiming the Internet: Toward a Post-Naive, Pluriversal Web

From the narrative of inevitability to the collective construction of human infrastructures

Design Is Different in the Neighborhood

By Galo Zapata In the neighborhoods, people don’t just talk about innovation—they do it. Not because they have time, resources, or peace of mind to spare, but because urgency doesn’t wait. Social transformation doesn’t begin in offices or design labs. It begins on the street corner. At the communal potluck. In the soup kitchen, in the “glass of milk” committees, at the grassroots level in the neighborhoods. On the soccer field where young people organize

Designing in the Face of Uncertainty: When Design Becomes a Compass

Holding onto what seems contradictory: an invitation to see things differently

Between Excel and Instinct

In the world of social development, chaos is often not an anomaly—it is the starting point.

Not my money, not my job, not me. DEI is on the retreat.

“We have money, too” is the phrase that made us laugh after a long, heartfelt conversation with friends with disabilities, with whom I often collaborate.

Strategically shaping the future requires combating the urge for immediacy

Creating a more just, sustainable, and prosperous future for everyone requires long-term thinking, an ethical approach, and an appreciation for diverse perspectives.

How to Predict the Future (Without Tarot)

Let's face it: predicting the future is hard. If it were easy, we'd already be living on Mars—and, just as importantly, someone would have invented a house that cleans itself.

Your Work Doesn't Need Any More Keynotes

Sustainable Leadership in an Uncertain World

In a world where uncertainty is the only constant, leading a sustainable team goes beyond simply achieving results.

The Uncomfortable Side of Innovation I

​How do we envision innovation in the Latin American context? Does it depend on “cutting-edge” technologies imported from other regions? What is the role of citizens? Are our governments prepared to keep pace with new technologies?