Our Work

Our programs focus on meeting the needs of 3 distinct but related groups. 

  1. Children without parental care, categorized as orphans in Uganda, and representing approximately 11% of Ugandan children, as well as many refugee children hosted in Uganda. Alternative care for this group is in a phase of transition in Uganda, based on ongoing policy reforms. Significant support is needed to ensure this group is provided with appropriate and safe options across the continuum of care, with an emphasis on community and family-based approaches. 
  2. Children at risk of losing parental care, categorized as vulnerable children in Uganda - a diverse group which represents 44% of Ugandan children. Children in this group live in vulnerable households, often unable to meet a range of basic needs, from nutrition and other basic health needs, to protection, education, and access to other basic services. 
  3. Vulnerable youth aged 18-25, who may have emerged from alternative care as children, or face other key vulnerabilities related to limited livelihood, education and training options, and exposure to violence including early, child and forced marriage.

We operate in four major program areas of: Family Strengthening, Alternative Care, Youth Empowerment, and Emergency Preparedness &Response, with five cross-cutting thematic areas of Child &Youth Safeguarding, Advocacy &Gender Equality, Result Based Management, Fund development and Institutional partnerships and ICT4D, which help to catalyse and galvanise our program impact.
 

Family Strengthening Program

In line with the preamble of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, SOS Children’s Villages firmly believes that the family is “the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children.”

Alternative Care

In our Alternative Care program we provide short term care to children in settings other than the child’s or young person’s immediate or extended family. The Alternative Care options we provide include Family like care (FLC), foster family care (FFC), and supervised independent living (SIL) arrangements.

Youth Empowerment

From the 1990’s when SOS CV Uganda first opened its offices in Uganda, our major focus of our youth empowerment initiatives was on the youth who were growing through our alternative care program specifically our family-like care

Child and Youth Safeguarding

We conceptualise child and youth safeguarding as our responsibility to ensure that our co-workers, representatives, operations and activities do no harm to children and young people.