A child from the SOS Children's Village Tema in Ghana

A child from the SOS Children's Village Tema in Ghana

We are living in fast-moving times. We can fly from London to New York by Concorde in less then four hours, travel from city to city in a high-speed train at over 200 mph or speed along a motorway at 100 mph and more, and no-one thinks twice about it. Speed is now the main factor in life around the world.

Data and information can be sent in a matter of seconds to any place in the world where there is a computer and a telephone. Satellites are used to transmit hundreds of television programmes to everyone. Brand-new technologies become obsolete overnight. Young people in training today can no longer be sure that the skills they acquire will provide them with a living until it is time to draw a pension. Pension? Who knows what today's social security systems will look like in fifty years' time.

Current upheavals are making the future more uncertain than ever before. Expectations, requirements, values and attitudes now seem to be changing as fast as the dictates of fashion. More and more, the very foundations of life are being called into question and the unknown is becoming the new normality. This is the world in which children and youngsters must now grow up, the world that shapes their search for identity, for a place on the labour market and in society in general.

The goals of SOS Children's Village youth care work For Rosana in Ghana, the socio-cultural factors that will help determine her future differ from those that apply to Martina in Austria. In the present total of 385 SOS Children's Villages in 131 different countries of the world, great importance is attached to ensuring that the young people entrusted to our care learn to face up to the social and economic realities of their world and develop their own personal perspectives in life. The overall goal is to help them develop a positive approach to life, and the willpower and the strength needed to seek integration in society so that they can grow up to live independent lives as self-reliant adults and earn their own living.

The point of departure and main focus of all youth care work at SOS Children's Villages is naturally the children and youngsters themselves, with all their resources and abilities, and their individual histories. As confidence is also the basis for self-confidence, they must find continuity and reliability at the level of interpersonal relationships.

The process of caring accordingly begins on the day on which the child first arrives at an SOS Children's Village. For Rosana in Africa and for Martina in Europe, the most important person for their personal development on the road to self-reliance is their SOS Children's Village mother. That is still the case when they move into a youth community at the age of about fourteen in order to embark on a new phase in life.

The SOS Children's Village mothers are involved in all major decisions affecting their children's and youngsters' lives. After all, the emotional ties built up over the years between mother and child do not suddenly die when a youngster moves out of the family home in an SOS Children's Village.

The children and youngsters are our focus The decisions to be taken with the children and youngsters as they grow up must always take account of their wishes, plans and perspectives. This is where the SOS Children's Village mothers have a central role to play. They know their charges' past lives, their abilities, dispositions and problems better then anyone else. They are closest to them and can best judge what strengths they have that deserve to be promoted and whether they have any special needs at school. It is also the mothers who are most likely to notice any abnormal behaviour and seek professional psychological assistance. For all the problems that can arise in this connection they can make use of the network of helpers that exists in every SOS Children’s Village, comprising the Village Director, educationalists, psychologists and social workers. SOS Children’s Village mothers have regular meetings with them where they can discuss their charges’ development, seek advice and obtain the support they need in making their decisions. In the SOS youth communities it is the supervisors who continue in these supportive functions in addition to the SOS Children’s Village mothers. In this phase it is particularly important that the youngsters should be increasingly involved in the decision-making processes, so that the final decision over the alternative courses of action can be transferred more and more to the youngsters themselves.

Integration on the labour market A good vocational training is no longer a guarantee for a job but it greatly improves the youngsters’ chances of success on the employment market nevertheless. For that reason great importance is attached to supporting the youngsters in their choice of vocational training programme, especially during the period they spend under supervision in the SOS youth community. A systematic programme of support is designed to guarantee adequate careers counselling while contacts with business partners are carefully developed, maintained and exploited and a thorough search is conducted for other employment opportunities (in government, private and public institutions, and industry).

Support for young men and women from SOS Children's Villages goes even further in the framework of the SOS head-start scheme. This reflects the general desire at SOS Children's Villages to provide material and immaterial assistance to young adults with the initiative to find their own way of earning a living.

In more concrete terms it means the provision of soft loans (with low interest rates and flexible repayment schedules) to young men and women who wish to set up a small business (in the trades, services or agriculture).

A special model of integration in the working world for our youngsters is the head-start scheme for micro-business projects, which is best illustrated by the following real-life example: Anna grew up in an SOS Children's Village in Bolivia. In La Paz she trained as a dressmaker before taking her first steps on the free market. She soon realised that her chances of success would be greatest if she established a little business of her own, but she did not have the necessary capital.

So she contacted SOS Children's Villages and with the help of SOS Children's Village co-workers drew up an initial business plan. The feasibility of the project was carefully analysed and the go-ahead given. For Anna that meant start-up funding in the form of a low-interest loan. So she went out and found suitable premises, and soon she was in business at 'Salon Anna'. In fact she had so many customers that she was able to pay back the loan relatively quickly. Today Anna is one of about thirty successful micro-entrepreneurs in Bolivia.

Housing support The big move from the shelter of the family nest, where everything is taken care of for them, to the world of independence and responsibility is a big step for any young person. One of the first problems is often finding a place to live, quite apart from the fact that a home costs money and needs to be looked after. Without a regular income such a move us unthinkable, all the more so as the rent is often high and an apprentice is usually paid a mere pittance. In order to cater for the needs of these young adults, SOS Children's Villages therefore developed their 'supervised housing' model (see the section on new developments in 'Self-reliance for our youngsters'). This system permits young adults to choose and furnish their own place to live.

To be on the safe side In difficult cases SOS Children's Villages also offer follow-up support. In this final phase on the road to self-reliance, youngsters are given support at a greater remove. The aim of this phase is to ensure that the last steps along the road to independence are successfully taken and that all the youngsters complete the healthy process of release from their SOS Children's Villages.

SOS Children's Villages have achieved their aim when the young adult is capable of assuming responsibility for his or her life in independence. Nevertheless, it is also a goal of SOS Children's Villages to ensure that the adults who have grown up in an SOS Children's Village maintain a positive relationship with their SOS Children's Village family and the SOS Children's Village community in their future lives.