The Izmir Mediterranean Academy has organized a virtual workshop on “Sustainable Development and Culture: Where do we stand on the 2030 Agenda?”. The workshop, that took place on March 19, was attended by more than 80 invited participants.

Professor of Economics from Bogazici University Fikret Adaman and ILO COOP Manager Simel Esim were the two speakers. The session started with Fikret Adaman who talked about the end of economics as we know it questioning the social and environmental sustainability of the solely profit and growth driven model.

The second speaker, Ms Esim reflected on the relevance of cooperatives and the wider social and solidarity economy in localizing the SDGs. She noted experiences from around the world in developing strong social and solidarity economy ecosystems at the local level including through conducive regulation, financing, education and wider business development services.

Following the presentations, the participants broke into working groups to reflect on the triple bottom line of sustainability, ways local economies can be re-envisioned with social and solidarity economy tools and links to culture.