SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
It was the personal initiative of Monica Quaroni, wife of the Italian Ambassador in Mongolia, who brought Hermann Gmeiner's idea to the country in 1996. After the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991 the terrible social and economic conditions became evident. Therefore, SOS-Kinderdorf International decided to become active here and to build an SOS Children's Village in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
Construction work on Mongolia's first SOS Children's Village Ulaanbaatar was completed in the summer of 2002 and the first families were able to move into their new family houses shortly thereafter. Due to the increased number of children in Mongolia who have lost one or both parents and are living below the poverty line there was a need to expand the activities of SOS Children's Villages and to set up a second SOS Children’s Village in Darkhan.
Because of a lack of educational and social services in Ulaanbaatar it became necessary to establish an SOS Social Centre (Family Strengthening Programme) in 2007. SOS Children’s Villages started to operate the first Family Strengthening Programme, which enables children who are at risk of losing the care of their family to grow within a caring family environment. To achieve this, SOS Children’s Villages works directly with families and communities to empower them to effectively protect and care for their children, in cooperation with local authorities and other service providers.
At present there is two SOS Children's Village in Mongolia one SOS Youth Facility and one SOS Social Centre (Family Strengthening Programme).
Contact:
SOS Children's Villages Mongolia
Bayanzurkh District
State Primary Urban Administrative Unit 16th
Post Office 22, P.O. Box 121
Ulaanbaatar
Mongolia
tel. +976-11-451702
fax +976-11-452076