Dock – Social Solidarity Economy Zone, is a non-profit organization with a cooperative structure, initially formed in 2015 from 12 young people active in Social Solidarity Economy sector and officially founded in 2017.

Dock envisions SSE as an alternative way of organizing economy and society based on the values of Solidarity, Sustainability and Social Justice. An economy whose profit is the social result it generates.

Dock’s perspective for SSE is that of an economic model that incorporates initiatives organized on the basis of collective ownership, management and work with democratic decisions and control. A model orientated on human and social needs, a local development with social and environmental balance.

Dock’s mission is to contribute to the visibility of SSE in Greece by organising public events and congresses, to empower SSE enterprises and initiatives by providing constant information, educational programs, business support, seminars and tools but also through networking for collaborations with other ventures.

Putting in good use our experience since 2012, when we began functioning as a Working Group for SSE within Solidarity for All, in 2016 after welcoming new members to our team, we created Dock, a new cooperative initiative, in order to support SSE entities / initiatives.

The valuable experience we gained the previous years enabled us to have an active role and participation, at a time when SSE in Greece experienced tremendous growth in which hundreds of new cooperative initiatives emerged.

During the recent years, we have supported old and new initiatives by providing advice, creating guides and tools for their development. We organized and participated in events promoting SSE in Greece, getting to know each area, its needs and its initiatives. We participated in the consultation of Law 4430/2016. We took part in a number of pan-European events, developing ties and synergies. A result of this networking is “Fruits of Solidarity”, which refers to the promotion of products of Greek cooperatives abroad through movements and collectives of active citizens.

---

The name chosen for our organization is the Dock. The dock has perspective. The dock is bustling with life and work. Particularly on our dock people talk, exchange opinions, carry and share experiences from afar, trade and secure the necessary provisions – on the open sea of the Social Solidarity Economy.

The field of social solidarity economy is a field that creates a completely different “bond” between the initiatives and between the field and the whole of society alike.

In order to achieve the mission Dock has created three core operations: Infopoint, Helpdesk, Forum

A spot where everyone can get in touch to get information, assistance and networking with other people or initiatives on a daily basis. Infopoint also serves as an information channel for SSE nationally.

The Infopoint operates daily from 09:00 to 17:00.

Contact email: [email protected]

Phone: 0030 213 0883758

It encompasses the basic operation of support of SSE entities / initiatives at any stage of their enterprise’s development. Helpdesk provides educational material, methodologies and trainings basically to practitioners but also to trainers and consultants willing to integrate SSE concept, principles and values interdisciplinary to their VET curricula.

Networking and synergy development, mainly aiming at statisfying common needs, as well as recording and processing our collective experience in order to produce joint policy and advocacy positions, thus intervening more effectively in the public debate on SSE nationally and globally.

We participated in the organizational team of UniverSSE 2017, the 4th european SSE congress and currently at a European level, we are members of the Ripess EU network.

Fruits of Solidarity is a collaborative network between productive and manufacturing cooperatives of Social and Solidarity Economy in Greece together with foreign organisations and cooperatives.