Capital: Zagreb
Area: 58,540 km²
Population: 4.5 million (December 2000 est.)
Ethnic groups: Croats (78%), Serbs (12%), Bosniaks, Hungarians, Slovenes
Official language(s): Croatian
Religion(s): roman catholic, eastern orthodox
Currency: 1 kuna = 100 lipa
SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
The first concrete steps were taken to introduce the SOS Children's Village idea to Croatia in January 1992. The main player here was an organisation whose aim was to bring international aid agencies into the country and to support them once they were there. Right from the start the SOS Children's Village idea was well-received and, on 12 February of the same year, the Croatian national SOS Children's Village Association (SOS Djecje Selo Hrvatska) was founded.
The cornerstone-laying ceremony for the country's first SOS Children's Village took place in Lekenik, about 24 kilometres southeast of Zagreb six months later, on September 10th, 1992. Of the fifteen family houses, the first three were ready for occupation in January 1993. The SOS Kindergarten and SOS Social Centre attached to the SOS Children's Village went into operation in August 1996. Under the patronage of President Franjo Tudjman, the cornerstone-laying ceremony for the second SOS Children's Village in Ladimirevci took place on September 17th, 1994. SOS Children's Village Ladimirevci was completed in 1995.
By 1996 it was time to work out a concept for an SOS Youth Facility. A suitable house was soon found in Zagreb, which offers a home to 22 youths. SOS-Kinderdorf International and the mayor of Vukovar signed an agreement to build an SOS Kindergarten in September 1998. This was officially opened in the presence of numerous local and international dignitaries on November 4th, 1999. In the year 2000, an SOS Youth Facility was set up in Osijek for the youths from SOS Children's Village Ladimirevci and another in Zagreb.
In 2002 the SOS Social Centre Lekenik was integrated into the SOS Childrens's Village Lekenik and is now a leisure centre for the children from SOS Children's Village Lekenik as well as for children from the neighbourhood. In the beginning of 2004 the SOS-Kindergarten Vukovar was handed over to the municipality as the agreement of financial support by SOS Children's Villages Croatia terminated. As the SOS youth house in Osijek had already reached its maximum capacity one more house was purchased at the end of 2004 for the youths from SOS Children's Villages Ladimirevci.
At present there are two SOS Children's Villages in Croatia, two SOS Youth Facilities and one SOS-Kindergarten.
Website of SOS Children's Villages Croatia (available in English and Croatian)