SOS Children's Villages decided to build an SOS Children's Village in San Vicente in central El Salvador, because this region experiences social problems which particularly affect the lives of many families and children. The region has a high unemployment rate; there are many young single mothers who often do not have an adequate education and are liable to be reduced to poverty and to abandon their children.
SOS Children's Village San Vicente is situated in the northwest of the region's capital, the town of San Vicente. It consists of 12 family houses, the director's house and administrative buildings, community rooms and a playground. It opened its doors in June 2004.
There is an adjoining SOS Social Centre, which comprises a child day-care centre as well as training workshops. The workshops offer training for youths and young mothers in order to improve their chances on the labour market and their living conditions. The child day-care centre has a capacity of up to 175 children and babies; it is also open to the children of the local population. Children are taken care of while their parents are at work, so that they can earn a living and keep their families together. Since 2005, the SOS Social Centre has been supporting local families to develop different measures of family strengthening, for example to organize childminding programmes.