SOS Children’s Villages India observes Child Safety Week

SOS Children’s Villages India, a leading non-profit organisation, dedicated to childcare and child development, observed Child Safety and Child Rights Week from 14th to 20th November, reaching over 43000 children through its 40+ programme locations across India.

Child Rights Week, celebrated every year, begins with National Children’s Day on 14th November and concludes on International Children’s Day on 20th November. This year, at SOS Children’s Villages India, the objective of this week was to raise awareness about the importance of child safety and child rights while empowering children to exercise their rights.

During this week, SOS Children’s Villages India organised activities and events for children and young adults in its programmes. Based on the international theme for Children’s Day “For Every Child, Every Right” there were different activities, including workshops on child safety, storytelling sessions, art competitions, nukkad natak, and sports events. The children and stakeholders were made aware of child rights, emphasising that child rights are universal, inherent, unconditional, inalienable and indivisible.

Sumanta Kar, CEO of SOS Children’s Villages India, stated, “Child safety and child rights are central to our work at SOS Children’s Villages India. Every child has the right to a safe and nurturing environment and the freedom to live life to the fullest. This year’s Child Safety Week, true to its theme “For Every Child, Every Right”, primarily focussed on sensitising children while empowering them enough to identify, comprehend and voice out their opinions. We are committed to working collaboratively with children, families, communities and the government to create a better world for our children to thrive in.”

This week provided different platforms for meaningful discussions, collective action, collaboration of stakeholders and the sharing of best practices on child rights and child safety. The participants, including children, youth and adult stakeholders pledged to work together to ensure the protection and well-being of children.

 SOS Children’s Villages India

Established in 1964, SOS Children’s Villages India provides children without parental care or at the risk of losing it, a value chain of quality care services that goes beyond childcare alone, ensuring comprehensive child development. Our customized care interventions such as: Family Like Care, Family Strengthening, Kinship Care, Short Stay Homes, Foster Care, Youth Skilling, Emergency Childcare, and Special Needs Childcare are aimed at transforming lives and enabling children under care into self-reliant and contributing members of society. The organization empowers vulnerable families in communities to become financially independent, enabling them to create safe and nurturing spaces for children under their care. Today, over 6,500 children live in more than 440 family homes, inside 32 SOS Children’s Villages of India, across 22 States/UTs, from Srinagar to Kochi, and Bhuj to Shillong. They are lovingly cared for and nurtured by over 600 SOS Mothers and Aunts. As India’s most extensive self-implementing childcare NGO, SOS Children’s Villages India directly touches the lives of around 45,000 children annually.

For more information, please visit: https://www.soschildrensvillages.in or contact: MA_India-Comm@soscvindia.org.