At the heart of society 

What does the concept of a family mean in different parts of the world today? Is it a place where one feels at ease with one's own people, protected from the outside world, where it is easier to have close contact with relatives (e.g., cooking, singing, playing music, laughing or telling stories)? Is it a place where strengths and weaknesses are tested, where people experience dependence or independence and have disagreements? Or, is it something else?

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states: "the family, as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children, should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community."

In many countries, however, the family is a group of people living together under the pressure of demographic, social and economic developments, which is no longer in a position of caring about staying together. Such a family is often too weak to meet the basic needs of all its members, such as food, clothing or a place to live - not to mention the upbringing and the education of its children. There is a great risk of such a family breaking up and its children being abandoned. This risk is amplified when there is a family history of migration (migration into cities, internal displacement or immigration), or the multi-ethnic society in which families live cannot come to terms with integration and discrimination.

Family cohesion

For SOS Children's Villages, the child is central to the family and society. Children often have just one parent, are orphans or have been abandoned. They sometimes live with one parent or a grandparent. Some grow up with their biological parents and siblings, but their family experiences great difficulties such as poverty, violence, alcohol, drugs, prostitution or criminality. Other families suffer from the problems of long-term unemployment, discrimination, parental disability or serious parental illness.

SOS Social Centres are there to help children such as these and their families. The centres co-ordinate the distribution of food parcels and clothing, make house visits to families, and offer psychological and social care. When necessary, they pay for the children's school fees and school uniforms. It is not uncommon for SOS Children's Villages to come across families that are run by the grandmother or the eldest child of the family. In such cases, it is particularly important to care for the children by supporting the person who is running the family. Providing care through family members is the most reliable way and is essential to keeping the family together.

For families affected by HIV/AIDS, SOS Children's Villages provides specific forms of support. In Mbabane (Swaziland) or Maseru (Lesotho), this involves carers paying regular visits, home help, tutoring school children, encouraging people to set up their own businesses and other measures to improve the families' living standards.

Information campaigns are another way to help increase young people's awareness, through the "Stop AIDS Club" in Gitega (Burundi) or through dramatic performances and songs with "Go back to school" in Lilongwe (Malawi). Particular attention should be drawn to the situation of children living with parents who have HIV/AIDS. Most of these children are forced to miss school to look after their parents or younger siblings at home. They are often stigmatised, suffer from hunger and are not protected; in the worst cases they are excluded from public health, education and other public facilities. Many of their rights are simply not respected.

Another risk to family cohesion is women's underrated position in society. SOS Children's Villages' many years of experience with women managing households confirms that families should be strengthened by supporting mothers in particular. A success story is the work of community centres ("centros comunitarios") in Latin America, where fundamental improvements are made to the precarious position of many families by encouraging women to learn different skills and qualifications ("capacitación").

"We have renovated our house with the support of the SOS Social Centre, which means that the children have a better home. I have learnt to read and write and to talk with other parents at the meetings. I have also learnt to cook…and to knit with Alpaca wool and other natural fibres. I now do handicrafts for a small shop and help my husband on the farm. Our children learn a lot at the community centres..." Zenobia Espejo, Oruro (Bolivia).

The family strengthening programme

SOS Children's Villages carries out preventative work. We want to help while there is still time to do so: to take measures so that the youngest members of the families concerned do not become street children or meet another sad fate. Around 70,000 children in Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe are now directly or indirectly receiving our support. Family strengthening entails:

• Directly supporting children at risk. Food, clothing, medical care and schooling are basic needs that must be provided for.
  
• Supporting parents in crisis so that they learn to cope on their own. Many of them need help with literacy, vocational training or personal development. Others need advice on how to feed their children properly and how to bring them up. Many are helpless when confronted with demanding authorities, unjust employers and unfair proprietors because they do not know their rights as citizens, day labourers or tenants. In addition, almost all parents would like to be able to send their children to day-care whilst they go out to work. These parents gain the skills that they need during counselling sessions, seminars and targeted training gatherings at the SOS Social Centres.
  "I would have never thought that I would ever have the opportunity to learn how to do something new after my husband died. After the training session, I hope to get a better income through dressmaking." Arati Kansari, Rourkela (India)
  In some cases, parents can ask for a micro-credit to enable them to start up their own business.
  
• Involving local communities and motivating them to take initiatives. Community participation in projects of and for families contributes significantly to families helping themselves. It also requires the understanding and goodwill of local social workers, training instructors and many others in different public authorities, communities and settlements. SOS Children's Villages uses this solidarity as a basis for its family strengthening programmes. "We have made agreements with six communities, which means that we are able to help 300 children. Our main goal is still to help families that are at risk of breaking up and thus prevent children from ending up on the streets or in orphanages." Kerti Puhm, Director of the family strengthening programme in Estonia

Making an effort in many different ways

When local helpers take action themselves, our organisation simply acts as an adviser or co-ordinator and remains in the background. The helpers and those affected should be the main actors and should take control of their own projects. It is particularly important that parents, community representatives and local organisations see themselves as project "partners".

SOS Children's Villages also strives to act as an advocate for children and supports governments in implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child or in reforming a government' institutional care systems for children (e.g., state orphanages, boarding schools, young offenders institutions).

These efforts could make the family the heart of today's society, if not a small democracy. By 2008, SOS Children's Villages aims to reach out to more than 100,000 children with its family strengthening programmes.