General meeting of the Nordic Council (NAR)
Date: Thursday, October 6 at 2022 13:20 – 15:00.
Location: Sigtúni 42, 105 Reykjavík
Participants: Linda Bergfledt and Berit Ahlberg from Sweden; Bernt Olaf Örsnes from Norway; Krista Hoffström and Marika Railila from Finland and Baldur Kristjánsson and Þórunn Hanna Halldórsdóttir from Iceland. Sunneva Davidsen, Heilafelagid Færeyjar and Marianne Brodin, Afasiforbundet i Norge, announced the cancellations.
Moderator: Þórunn Hanna Halldórsdóttir
Secretary: Baldur Kristjánsson.
- Meeting set and agenda presented for approval – No comments were made.
- Chairman’s report – Þórunn Hanna gave an overview of Iceland’s chairmanship. That time would have been colored by the COVID epidemic. In 2021, two meetings would have been held via remote meeting equipment, but the circumstances would not have allowed joint projects to be carried out, and therefore no such application would have been made. An application was made to the Nordic Welfare Council (NWC) to hold the previous grant from 2021 to hold a regular meeting in 2022. The participants of the meeting agreed that at that time there was no occasion or facilities to carry out large joint projects. However, Iceland has made an effort to use the presidency to keep the issues of people with aphasia in the air and has, among other things, applied for grants for group work that was starting this fall, created a Facebook group and wrote articles and took interviews in magazines related to the issue.
- Invoices presented for approval –
- Baldur presented the company’s accounts and they were unanimously approved. The undersigned was instructed to translate the accounts into English (as he did at the meeting) and they attach to these minutes.
- The annual fee for the years 2021 and 2022 and 2023 was discussed and it was reiterated that the annual fee should be determined annually cf. law of the council. It was also discussed that the main purpose of the council was the exchange of opinions and the provision of information, but that the “political” struggle for the rights of people with aphasia should not be forgotten. It was proposed that the annual fee be 100 EUR per member company and it was unanimously approved.
- Submitted cases from member countries – no submitted cases had been presented before the meeting.
- Implementation plan – No plan for larger projects was submitted cf. the decision of the board meeting that at this stage NAR’s activities will be limited to the exchange of experience, knowledge and information.
- Appointment of those who will take over the chairmanship for the next 2 years -According to plan Afasiforbundet i Norge was to take over the presidency next year, 2023-2024.
- Bernt Olav informs, as previously stated in an email from Marianne Brodin, that it will not work due to the merger in the LHL that is going through these weeks. There is also uncertainty about the extent to which LHL will be able to participate in NAR’s work. This had also been discussed at the board meeting that morning, but it was repeatedly stated that it is important for this Nordic cooperation that Norway participates in the work of NAR.
- There was some discussion about who would take over the chairmanship, as Norway withdrew from it, and in Finland there is also some uncertainty about who will take over as participants. It was pointed out that although some associations have employees and the extent of the associations is different, this is always extra work on top of other projects that the associations are responsible for. It is therefore important that responsibility for the work is shared among all the member associations and that the activities are not too extensive. After several discussions, Iceland offered to take over the presidency for one more year.
- Next meeting, location and timing
- It was suggested that the next meeting be held in the Faroe Islands, where it could make it easier for representatives of Heilafelagid to participate in the meeting and raise awareness of the issues of people with aphasia in society. This was approved unanimously, with the proviso that the representatives of Heilafelagid agreed to this. Þórunn will send mail to Sunneva Davidsen. It was decided to aim for a meeting during the week of 18-22. April 2023.
