Indigenous peoples and researchers from the United States, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the indigenous peoples of the Kola Peninsula and Chukotka in Russia have contributed to SLiCA. SLiCA is a Sustainable Development initiative of the Arctic Council and is supported by the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Saami Council, and the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North. The aims of SLiCA are to:

• Measure living conditions in a way relevant to Arctic residents
• Document and compare the present state of living conditions among the indigenous peoples of the Arctic
• Improve the understanding of living conditions to the benefit of Arctic residents

SLICA is funded by: Nordic Council of Ministers (NMR), The Greenland Home Rule Government, The Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland (KVUG) The Barents Secretariat, Nordic Arctic Research Programme (NARP), Danish Research Council for the Social Sciences (SSF), Swedish Research Council for the Social Sciences, Ministry of the interior – Dept. of municipalities, Norway, The Joint Committee on Research Councils for Nordic Countries (NOSS), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), National Science Foundation (NSF), Statistics Canada.