SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country

As early as in the 1990s, various humanitarian Ukrainian organisations approached SOS Children's Villages with a view to establishing an SOS Children's Village. In 2003, SOS Children's Villages International set up an office and an SOS Social Centre in Kiev. With the monthly distribution of food packages to large families, most of them headed by single mothers, SOS Children's Villages started its first aid programmes in the Podol district of Kiev.

As there were no facilities taking care of children and youths experimenting with drugs, SOS Children's Villages opened an HIV/AIDS counselling centre for this at-risk group, as well as their parents. Psychological advice is offered within the framework of both projects, and children and youths can take part in art therapy and various other spare time activities. In order to reach out to children who spend most of their time on the street, various activities are offered in co-operation with the local district administration. Additional family-strengthening programmes have been launched over the past few years in Kiev and Brovary.

These programmes mainly offer support to families who are at risk of abandoning their children and enable children to grow within a caring family environment. Together with local authorities and other service providers, SOS Children's Villages supports families and helps them to take good care of their children. Another programme aims at the qualitative improvement of services of public schools and kindergartens by offering skill enhancement to teachers and educators. The first SOS Children's Village in Ukraine was established in Brovary, near Kiev, and in early 2010 the first SOS families moved in.

Website of SOS Children's Villages Ukraine
(available in Ukrainian and in English)