The Great Lockdown

CHAPTER 14SOS Children's Villages

By Siddhartha Kaul (President)

About SOS Children's Villages

SOS Children's Villages is the world's largest nongovernmental organization focused on supporting children and young people without parental care or at risk of losing it. It has been contributing for the last 70 years in 136 countries and territories to improve these indicators for children, young people, and vulnerable families. Locally led, we focus on strengthening families who are under pressure so they can stay together. When this is not in a child or young person's best interests, we provide quality alternative care according to their unique needs as advised in the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. In 2019, with more than 2,800 programs that safeguard children, provide alternative care and education, strengthen families, promote youth employability, and advocate for child rights, we have reached 1.23 million children, young people, and their families. (See Figure 14.1.)

After the 2008 economic crisis, civil society suffered a double whammy. While on one hand the government and private actors cut their spending on social causes, on the other hand the sector was put under intense scrutiny. In addition, the world started to experience an increase in the migrant crisis, religious conflicts, and the rise of right-wing forces, not to mention the ever-present issues of gender inequality, racism, and the economic divide. The COVID-19 pandemic arrived on the scene with ...