SOS Children`s Village Programme presentation - SOS

SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGE PROGRAMME
KOSOVO
A loving home for every child
Where is Kosovo?
 As a part of Southeast Europe, Kosovo is one of poorest countries of the
region with a rate of 30% of citizens living below the internationally set
poverty line of $ 1.25 per day.
 1,739,825 inhabitants: 92% are Kosovo Albanian, 5.3% Kosovo Serb and
other ethnic groups 2.7%.
• The estimated number of children from 0 to 5 is 250,000.
• The Kosovo population is relatively young, with
estimated half of its population (around 900,000) being
under 18.
 Poverty directly affects child
health: 15.5% of children show
stunted growth, whilst the prevalence
of severe stunting is 4.7%
 The lowest public expenditure on social protection in the region with
only 12.7 % of total government expenditures allocated for social
protection.
Kosovo War of 1999

During the war in 1999, around 20.000 – 25.000 people
were killed or lost.

About 1,000.000 people were forced out of their homes,

More than 100,000 houses were destroyed or critically
affected.

As a result of the war in 1999 in Kosovo, the number of
children who lost one parent drastically increased.

Around 20,000 children have lost one of their parents

Around 1,400 children who lost both parents.
Kosovo situation
 The education system does not reach out to
marginalized groups and communities
 The high rate of child labour
 Insufficient care-system for children with special
needs;
 Lack of short-term care for families in crisis,
victims of domestic violence and abandoned
babies.
 Lack of community-based social service providers
for Families and Children
 Lack of established mechanisms for state-private
partnership, community participation in planning
of social services, needs based approach,
appropriate data collection and research for child’s
rights and government budgetary constraints for
supporting children and families in need.
Kosovo at glance
 According to the yearly report of the Ministry of
Social Welfare:
 On average 170 children without parental care
are offered care in the social welfare system
yearly- in foster care and residential care,
 Around 600 children are placed in kinship
care.
 During 2015, 46 babies were abandoned,
 96 abandoned babies remain with unchanged
status since 2014.
 Out of these 96 babies, 71 were placed in
foster care, 19 in SOS infant homes, and 6
remain in the hospital because of health
problems.
Most disturbing issue in Kosovo- the delays in resolving child status
History of SOS Children’s Villages
Foundation SOS Children's Villages is a non-governmental organization dedicated
to support abandoned children and children in need regardless of their ethnicity,
culture and religion.

The first SOS Children Village was founded by

Herman Gmeiner in 1949 in Imst, Austria. He

was committed to helping children in need ,

children who had lost their homes, their

security and their families as a result of the

Second World War.

Foundation SOS Children's Villages in Kosovo has been operating since 1999, responding
positively to the difficult situation and surrounding of the abandoned babies and
children in need.
Mission, vision and values
 We build families for children in
need, we help them shape their
own futures and we share in
development of their communities.
 Every child belongs to a family and
grows with love, respect and
security
 Our values :courage (we take
action), commitment (we keep our
promise), trust (we believe in eachother) and accountability (we are
reliable partners).
OVERVIEW OF THE SOS CHILDREN’S
VILLAGE PROGRAMME
Our target group
Children at risk of losing parental care: children whose
basic needs are being neglected or are abused because their
caregivers lack the capacity or commitment to adequately
care for them
Children who have lost parental care: children who are not
living with a parental caregiver for whatever reason and
under whatever circumstances
We are part of the community and work together with other stakeholders in the
community
The SOS Children’s Village Programme
supports different forms of families to become strong, so
that they can provide a caring family environment for their
children’s development.
In regard to the situation of the children within our target
group, we develop responses, together with other
stakeholders and building on existing capacities and
initiatives.
Principles of our work with children, families
and communities
1.
Our focus is on child
development within a caring
family environment
3. The best interests of the child form
the basis for all decisions and actions
2. Social support networks for
children and their families are
strengthened
4. Children are involved in finding
solutions to the challenges they
face in their lives
SOS Kosova- Projects
 Family based care
•
•
•
•
Centers for Short and Middle Term Placement (3
specialized families for infant care)
SOS Families - 6 Community Integrated SOS Families
and 1 SOS Family in the village
Youth Facility
SILP
 4 FS Projects
 Counseling Centre
 Advocacy Project
COUNTRY NEEDS

Family Based Care:
• Government Service for FBC are very limited
• Lack of short-term social care services (temporary/crisis sheltering for children)
• Complete lack of services for children with disabilities who are without parental care.
• Complete lack of social care services for youngsters without parental care
• No after-care services exist in the country
FBC Current Projects
Short and Middle Term Infant Care [since Jan
2001]: This is the only shelter for abandoned
infants 0-3 years in Kosovo. Since 2001, over 600
infants and toddlers have been cared for in the
shelter whilst State authorities decide on
reintegration, adoption or fostering. Currently
there are 3 families with 6 infants each.
SOS Children’s Village [since Oct 2004]: Currently there are 33
children living in 7 families, 14 youngsters living in the Youth
Community [since Aug 2011]: a half-way house that supports
transition to independence; 9 youngsters in SILP
To date, more than 60 children have been cared for in the
Children’s Village and Youth Community.
COUNTRY NEEDS

Family Strengthening:
• SOS FSP interventions are the only social care service provided to families at risk and
their children.
• High number of families where children are at risk oh neglect and abuse
• Great need for expansion and for strengthening partnerships with NGO’s in scaling
up FS services and to mobilize community to respond to the situation of the children
with its own resources.
FS Current Projects
 Family Strengthening Programme [since Jan 2007]: In four
locations: Matiqan and Vranjevc in Pristina, in nearby
Serbian community in Gracanica and in nearby Roma
community in Fushe Kosove, the programme targets the
most marginalized families and aims to prevent
abandonment of children.
 Over the past 9 years this programme has supported over
600 children and 200 families.
 More than 80 families have already exited the projects as
they have reached self-sustainability.
FS Current Projects
The aim of the program is to prevent unbundling of a family and ensure that
every child is raised in a warm family environment.
Four pillars of Family Strengthening
Good parenthood
Education
Health
Economic empowerment
Counseling Center for Children and
Families at Risk
 Offers services to families at risk of
disintegration and those in need.
 Integrated services to fulfill all the needs of
community in support, backing and
stimulation of further development of
children and families by providing services in
psychological and pedagogical field of its
professional multidiscipline team.
 Center also focuses on early childhood
development and education. This kind of
center is the first one in Prishtina and
reaches successfully default number of
beneficiaries, as a result of access, services
and professionalism during this year.
COUNTRY NEEDS

Advocacy:
• The drafting minimum quality standards.
• Need to support local GO, NGOs to lobby and advocate for child-centered
health, education and social services.
Advocacy
 Continuing the strengthening of
partnerships with National Coalition for
Child’s Rights regarding child protection
issues,
 engagement in working groups on
alternative care and prevention of
abandonment.
 In 2015 we successfully concluded the
Care4Me campaign and it is now being
evaluated by external experts.
 Plans for 2016 entail focusing
strengthening youth for peer advocacy
and follow-up activities to Care4Me
Campaign.
Plans for the future
 Expand the Family Strengthening Program to other
communities in Kosovo, Counselling Centre in two other
FS location
 Diversification of services to reach more children jointly
with partners.
 Seeking registration as a Foster Care Organization
•
Since we are one of 12 organizations that was licensed as
social service providers, we aim to get the license to play a
major role in recruiting and training of foster families
 Advocacy is a priority
 Launching of Educational Programmes
Story from the program
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The family was self referred in 2013
Divorced single mother with two children
Suffered constant psychological violence
As a result: pessimistic, negligence for herself and children
Children had no interaction with peers
No access to basic needs
Story from the program
 Psycho-social support for two years,
through individual meetings, group
meetings, psychological sessions
and different activities;
 Mother attended consecutive
trainings for developing parental
skills;
 Children on the other hand were
supported in increasing their school
performance through educational
activities, support with didactic
materials, trainings and
extracurricular activities.
KEY SHIFTS
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