The 5th National Meeting on Social and Solidarity Economy was held in Santiago de Chile on May 11-12 with the aim of promoting, coordinating and giving visibility to economic initiatives based on alternative models, Integrating knowledge and practices from our traditions, our roots; This was one of the main premise on which many organizations, companies and entities related to the cooperative sector decided to gather this year.

This meeting took place at the headquarters of the University of Valparaiso and was organized by the General Confederation of Cooperatives of Chile (CONFECOOP) in association with CORFO and the support of ORIENCOOP and SERMECOOP. It has been a great opportunity to share our visions on mutualism, cooperativism, community tourism, barter exchange networks and community currencies, among other examples of “good living”. In addition, a seminar has been held to address issues related to gender, multiculturalism, sustainability, governance and food sovereignty.

The main objective has been achieved as we succeed in generating a collaborative and solidarity network which seeks to solve the main issues of the SSE sector. This way the chilean economy can focus on the quality of life of the people rather than just on individual capital production.

The organizing team included the Vicaría de Pastoral Social del Arzobispado de Santiago and the Women Entrepreneurs Network, a group to which the event wished to give special support.

The meeting was attended by 115 people, including Raúl Luna, coordinator of Ripess Lac (Second picture on the left).