CIRIEC World Conference in Latin America: Social and solidarity economy as an inclusive, sustainable and resilient development model in a post-COVID-19 world

Most Latin American countries bring the theme of regional integration into their respective Constitutions, keeping Simon Bolívar’s dream of Pátria Grande alive. This dream, considering the complex geopolitical and geoeconomic relations of today, results in a series of economic, social and political challenges for the whole of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Several initiatives have been carried out over the decades, however, to a large extent, they have been frustrated or incomplete, turning Latin American integration into an open challenge. It is in this context that the Centre of Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy CIRIEC-Brasil, with the support of CIRIEC-International, held the CIRIEC World Conference in Latin America in April 2021 with the theme: “Social and solidarity economy as an inclusive, sustainable and resilient development model in a post-COVID-19 world”. One of the major objectives of the conference (held in digital format) was to reflect on some questions, such as e.g.: What will be the role of the social and solidarity economy (SSE) in this scenario? What is the role of the SSE in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals across different territories? What is the response of the SSE to the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19? Is there a possibility that the new technological instruments will be used within SSE ventures?