Development Communication & Organisational Consultancy

Public purpose, private enterprise, and community voice — brought together.

THE SOCIAL MIX

Internal communication, stakeholder engagement, strategic events, and development programmes — built around your team and delivered end to end. We don’t manage logistics. We manage meaning.

The Social Mix is a strategic communications and development consultancy founded and led by Mareli Wassenaar, with over 30 years of experience working at the convergence of public sector strategy, cultural economy, and social development. We are a trusted implementation partner to national government, development finance institutions, and multilateral agencies — among them GTAC, National Treasury, the World Bank, UNDP, UNFPA, and SA Tourism — delivering end-to-end solutions across strategic events and conference management, development communication, stakeholder engagement, organisational communication, and cultural-economic placemaking. We take projects from inception to final implementation, managing complexity and protecting our clients’ reputations, across South Africa and beyond. Where others manage logistics, we manage meaning.

Our promise to you
What you can expect from us

Purposeful creativity

Execution integrity

Social and economic inclusion

Our Core Capabilities
What we do

Strategic Events & Conference Management

High-stakes event production for government, diplomatic, and development institution clients. From ministerial conferences and diplomatic functions to exhibitions and live cultural productions — managed end to end with precision and purpose. Conferences | Diplomatic functions | Exhibitions

Development Communication

Translating complex development mandates into campaigns, content, and community-facing communication that lands. We work with government, multilateral agencies, and development finance institutions to communicate policy, drive behaviour change, and build public trust. Behaviour change | Public campaigns | Policy communication

Placemaking & Cultural Economy

Activating places, precincts, and communities to drive economic inclusion, tourism, and social cohesion. Our placemaking work in Pretoria’s inner city spans over 15 years — shaping how communities experience and relate to the spaces they inhabit. City branding | Precinct activation | Cultural programming

We make strategy have social impact.