Inclusion and society: workshop

This text was first puplished on kotlusetur.is 

SASS and Kötlusetur hosted a workshop at Hotel Vík on Friday, January 26, 2024. The workshop´s title was „Inclusion and community“ and it was attended by members of the multicultural councils of Rangárþing eystra and Hornafjörður, members of the English-speaking council of Mýrdalshreppur, representatives from the four municipalities and regional development representatives from SASS.

The workshop was held to celebrate the completion of the second part of regional development project of SASS and the Icelandic Regional Development Institute (Byggðastofnun) which is entitled „Action Plan for Sustainable Demographic Development of Central Region“. The aim of the project is to promote positive regional development and promote sustainable demographic development in municipalities of Rangárþiong eystra, Mýrdalshreppur, Skaftárhreppur and Hornafjörður in the long term, and this second part has been devoted to support for the municipalities in formulating and implementing new resident reception plans for their areas, establishing establish a cooperation group and promote the recognition of foreign residents in the region.

Harpa Elín Haraldsdóttir, director of Kötlusetur, led the workshop, which began with a presentation by Þórðar Frey Sigurðsson, head of the Development Department of SASS, on the project and a more detailed explanation of the collaboration group´s work, experience at the end of the year. Nichole Leigh Mosty, preschool director and former director of Multicultural Center, led the first part of the workshop where the role and possibilities of local authorities to lead validation in society and the importance of vision and strategy in this issue were discussed. Áshildur Linnet form the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Labor Market presented the main findings of a green book on the issues of immigrants and refugees that was published in November 2023. Both presentations fostered important and good discussions and we thank everyone who came to the workshop for a great day !