A panoramic sight of the Children's Village
This picture is an overview of our Childrens Village in El Jadida, Morocco. I researched how and why SOS Childrens Villages are located where they are. This is what I found out:
- Will
SOS Children is always careful to ensure that it works in a place where it is welcome, and fits in with the local community in the best possible way. Building a new Village or running a new project are not tasks to be taken lightly. I have been looking at the criteria that SOS Children uses before it commits itself to constructing a new Childrens Village:
-Before starting any activities in a new country several studies are carried out into feasibility and necessity. Additional checks have to be made to see whether SOS Children's Villages will be able to offer a valid supplementary contribution to help children in need.
-Finally, an agreement must be signed with the government in which the foundations for cooperation are laid out (child care model, child admission, the legal position regarding taxation, questions about plots of land, etc.).
-The financial and logistical feasibility also has to be examined. Only then can the actual construction of an SOS Children's Village go under way, as long as there is a suitable plot of land, suitably located in an area established as having the greatest need.
From these criteria one can see that SOS Childrens Villages will not build a village until it has the consent of the required government, and until it has thoroughly researched the situation in the area of choice. This is important, as it creates a good relationship with the community in which it is working. SOS Childrens Villages identifies the areas and scale of the help the community most needs before construction on a new village.
Furthermore, it is no accident that many SOS Villages are located in or around former areas of disasters. This is because, in the aftermath of disasters, the sad truth is that many children might be left orphaned, and the charity believes it is often in the childrens best interests to remain in the same areas they have grown up. SOS sets up Villages in these areas, and is often given the complete blessing of the local government. Take the Pakistani government as an example; they gave SOS the seal of approval by giving them complete rights to care for orphaned children, in the aftermath of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Many times in the past, SOS Children has set up in a country that was affected by disaster, and still remains in many of these countries to this day.
Share: