About us

Facts

Vision for a Sustainable Nordic region

In August 2019, the Nordic Prime Ministers decided that the Nordic region shall become the world’s most sustainable and integrated region. This resulted in Vision 2030, which is to be realised through three strategic priorities: a green Nordic region, a competitive Nordic region and a socially sustainable Nordic region.

The Nordic Welfare Centre is working with all three areas, but with a special focus on the goal to create a socially sustainable Nordic region.

Learn more about the Nordic Council of Ministers’ action plan, which takes its starting point in the three strategic priorities and twelve objectives of the vision.

The Nordic Welfare Centre is an institution within the Nordic Council of Ministers. Our core mission is to serve as a platform for co-operation between the Nordic countries in the area of social affairs and public health. Our primary target groups for services and deliveries are employees in ministries and national authorities in the Nordic countries.

Our mission

The Co-operation Programme for Health and Social Affairs is the governing document for all activities under the Nordic Council of Ministers for Health and Social Affairs (MR-S). The cooperation programme was approved by the Nordic Council of Ministers for Health and Social Affairs (MR-S) on 19 September 2024 and is valid until 31 December 2030. The primary aims of the programme are to

Ensure all citizens have equal access to welfare services and to consolidate the universal welfare model.
Prevent mental health problems, mental illness and involuntary loneliness for all groups in society.
Ensure that all citizens have equal opportunities to live happy and healthy lives.
Deliver early, preventive, health-promoting and sustainable interventions.

In addition to this co-operation programme, the Nordic Welfare Centre’s areas of activity include active cross-sectoral cooperation, primarily within the co-operation programmes for Working Life, Culture, Education, Research and Languages.

Our work

The Nordic Welfare Centre creates meeting places, gathers expertise, builds networks, communicates knowledge and experience through good practice examples and provides recommendations to decision-makers – while acting as a bridge between research and practice.

As the welfare systems in the Nordic countries share many similarities, there is a lot we can learn from each other.

Can your Nordic neighbor learn from what another country has done to respond to a challenge? If so, the Nordic Welfare Centre strives to share that information and inspire others to take on challenges and find solutions. In this way, the Nordic Welfare Centre conveys knowledge while offering concrete tools to take action.

Our results are used to inform policy decisions at the national, regional and local level in Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Åland.

Some examples from our 2024 knowledge sharing efforts

Grafik över kunskapsspridning. Samma information finns i text i NVC:s Årsrapport 2024.

Our council

The Nordic Welfare Centre’s council is an advisory body responsible for providing input to inform professional strategic planning based on the aims and objectives of the institution, which are set by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The Council shall discuss matters of major importance relating to the professional objectives of the institution.

Foto av Nordens välfärdscenters råd utanför NVC:s kontor. — Members: Thomas Karlsson, Institutet för hälsa och välfärd (THL), Finland, Arne Marius Fosse, Helse og omsorgsdepartementet, Norge, Anna Klara Georgsdottir, Välfärdsministeriet, Island, Kenneth Elmegaard, Social- og boligstyrelsen, Danmark, Anna Kristin Svabo Simonsen, Ministry of social affairs, Färöarna, Axel Ingvarsson, Socialdepartementet, Sverige, Martha Abelsen, Arbejdsmarked of Indenrigsanliggender, Grönland.

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