From 14-22 July, there will be an extensive programme of events, which will look back in particular at the lives of children in Brazil, as well as looking forward to the present and future challenges facing SOS Children's Villages. It will also look at the matter of children's rights. From the beginning, SOS Children's Villages' work in Brazil was a reaction to the serious poverty faced by large parts of the population and the inequality that existed and still exists in terms of income and property.
For 40 years, SOS Children's Villages has been running facilities for abandoned and neglected children, placing a particular emphasis on those in urban areas. A total of 15 SOS Children's Villages across Brazil - from Manaus in the Amazon, to Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Santa Maria in the south of the country - are currently home to more than 1,500 children.
The most recent project is in Igarassu, near Recife, which was financed with the help of donations made as part of the 6 villages for 2006 charity campaign that was held during the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ in Germany. Football stars such as Juninho, Bebeto and the current Brazilian national coach Dunga stood up in support of SOS Children's Villages.
Over the course of the years, family-based care at SOS Children's Villages was complemented by a diverse range of services to support the socially vulnerable. There are now a number of projects and programmes that provide relief and support for economically disadvantaged parents in particular in their everyday lives at work and in bringing up and caring for their children.
All the SOS Children's Villages therefore have nurseries, kindergartens and networks of childminders to provide care throughout the day for the children of both couples and single parents whilst they go out to work.
The long-term care in the SOS Children's Villages was complemented by crisis intervention centres that were created to provide for children in need on a short- and medium-term basis until a solution for their future placement can be found. With the 63 facilities that it now has, SOS Children's Villages Brazil runs the most projects on the continent in comparison to the other national associations.