Other SOS Programs
SOS Children’s Villages operations often include supporting facilities which are necessary for the children in our care. In addition to providing these facilities and programs to our children, they are also available to the communities around the village.
SOS Kindergartens
In countries and regions where pre-school facilities do not already exist or are inadequate, SOS Children's Villages build their own. These kindergartens offer children from both the SOS Children's Village and the local neighbourhood access to early learning and supervised play facilities that would not otherwise be available.
The teaching methods employed, and the games and toys used at SOS Kindergartens are derived from the Montessori method. They take into account the cultural norms of the country and emphasize children’s natural creativity and their development at their own pace.
Learn more about SOS Kindergartens
SOS Schools
SOS Children’s Villages often construct its own SOS Schools, which, depending on the location, are either run by that country’s educational authority or by SOS Children’s Villages using the state educational curriculum.
SOS Schools range from primary and secondary schools, to vocational training schools for older youth. Primary and secondary schools, which offer classes from the first to the ninth grade, are the most predominant.
Through its schools, SOS Children’s Villages seeks to ensure that adequate education is provided to each child who grows up in an SOS Children's Village, and to as many children in the local community as possible.
SOS Youth Facilities
SOS Children's Villages attaches great importance to ensuring that the young people entrusted to its care are well prepared for the social and economic realities of their world and are empowered to develop their own personal perspectives in life.
Young people often move out of the village and into a youth facility when they start a vocational training course or go on to higher education. With the support of a qualified youth worker, who lives in the youth facility, the young people develop realistic perspectives for their future, learn to take on increased responsibilities, and increasingly make their own decisions. They are encouraged to develop teamwork and build up contacts with relatives and friends, as well as with the relevant authorities and potential employers.
Learn more about SOS Youth Facilities
SOS Medical Centres
SOS Children's Villages has set up over fifty medical centres that are helping people who would not otherwise have access to medical facilities. These centres are attached to SOS Children's Villages. Sometimes they are run by local health authorities, other times by SOS Children’s Villages in partnership with the state department of health.
SOS Medical Centres are designed to meet basic local medical needs, as well as cover some specialist needs such as obstetrics. They generally offer out-patient treatment and preventive medicine (vaccinations, courses on hygiene, prophylactics, nutrition, first aid etc). Many clinics have their own laboratory, a small ward and a pharmacy. They have a qualified staff of state registered nurses, midwives, laboratory technicians and doctors.
The aim of the SOS Medical Centres is to improve the public health standard in the local communities; playing a preventive role through information and vaccination programs, reducing infant mortality rates by stabilizing and providing for undernourished children, and providing first aid in the case of accidents.