Conference: the Social and Solidarity Economy

About the conference

The University Centre of the Westfjords in Ísafjörður, will hold a conference and a workshop, called “the Social and Solidarity Economy” (SSE), in Ísafjörður onSeptember 13th. The participants in the workshop, which will be held on September 12th th will be handpicked, but the conference, which will be held the day after, is open for everyone.

The organization of modern society is often thought to be formed by three main goals: 1.) profit
maximation, 2.) enterprises that are owned and run by the state and, 3.) NGO´s, aid agencies, non-profit enterprises, co-operatives, voluntary groups and other organizations that work for social and environmental reform in the society through businesses and production of various products and services that are based on cooperation, solidarity, ethics and democratic governance.
Synonym for all these last-named organizations is called “Social and Solidarity Economy” (SSE).

NGOs, non-profit organisations and other similar voluntary groups have always been around in most countries of the world and can be found today in businesses such as industry, education, welfare and health services, financial and insurance service, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, technological companies, power plants, arts, culture, mass media and more.

Little is known of the scope of these activities in Iceland, but many NGO´s and non-profit
organizations have played a major role for many years in the Icelandic society within all kinds of
services, fighting for the cause of various groups and contributing to democratic discussions in the communities.

The conference/workshop will focus in particular on possibilities and opportunities that the SSE has to offer people living in the scattered settlements around Iceland. We will be assisted by some Icelandic speakers as well as people from Denmark, Norway and Italy who will be telling us about interesting SSE´s projects that has been implemented in their countries.

Schedule

The schedule in Icelandic for the conference on Friday september 13th. All talks will be in Icelandic apart from the two talks at 12:25 and 12:45. 

Accomodation and transport

For accommodation please look up options at Visit Westfjords

International Flights: If you are making travel arrangements from abroad there are several airlines flying to Iceland. All of them arrive at Keflavik International Airport. The international airport is located approximitely 50 km away from Reykjavík, Icelands capital.

Airport shuttle Keflavik - Reykjavík: You can travel by coach/bus to and from Keflavik Airport. The trip from the airport terminal to Reykjavík downtown takes approximately 45 minutes. You can buy the tickets and find further details on the websites of the coach/bus companies.

Domestic Flights: From Reykjavik Domestic Airport you can fly with Air Iceland Connect to Ísafjörður which takes about 35 minutes.

Contact

For questions about the conference please contact ester@uw.is