SOS Children's Villages of India

SOS India’s by line is ‘A loving home for every child’. It is part of a global NGO network operating in 133 countries set up by Austrian Philanthropist Dr. Hermann Gmeiner in 1949.  

Key Initiatives:

Family Based Care (FBC): FBC is a core initiative of SOS that reaches out to 6,500 children annually across 32 villages in 22 states of India. Each Village has 12-15 SOS Family Homes and every home consists of 10 children on an average along with a SOS mother. SOS helps build strong, supportive relationships between every child and his/her SOS family. All round development including education, nutrition, health and psychological development is given utmost priority until these children are settled in their lives.

Family Strengthening Programme (FSP): FSP, another core initiative, is a preventive community intervention programme that covers over 16,500 children across 32 locations in India. This programme is designed to prevent children from losing parental care or being abandoned and runs in the slum and rural areas within a 30 km radius of an SOS Children’s Village.  The beneficiaries are vulnerable children such as children of widows, single women or poor families. The programme spans across 3-5 years and aims to enable collective family dignity and self-reliance by ensuring child education and enabling better income generating capacity.

Education/Advocacy: SOS Hermann Gmeiner Schools offer primary and secondary education across India to 7,000 children from SOS Children’s Villages and their neighbourhoods. SOS also runs vocational training centres and professional colleges. Since inception, advocating child’s rights has been an integral part of SOS’ efforts.