With our programmes and services we strive to enable children, youths and their families to live a life according to their own culture, as active and successful members of their community. Using the terminology of the Capability Approach (CA) one could say, SOS Children’s Villages works to enable people to “live a flourishing life they have reason to choose and value”.
Because of the cultural differences between the countries in which SOS Children’s Villages runs programmes, it is necessary to take a close look at what such a life looks like in a particular regional context. This includes the necessity to know which capabilities are valued by the children, youths and families we support. In this context capabilities are the real actual possibilities open to a person – based on his or her material resources, personal abilities, and the opportunities provided by society to make use of both.
Analysing concept as framework
However, the Capability Approach has not been applied to the situation of- and the work with- children in care systematically yet. Therefore, SOS Children’s Villages International and the International Research Centre Salzburg (IFZ) started a research project in March 2009 that aims at analysing to which extent this concept could serve as a framework for assessing and optimising youth and family related services in different cultures.
Available downloads
Further information
For further information, please contact Ms Silvia Exenberger (silvia.exenberger@sos-kd.org)