The SOS Children’s Village plans to expand countrywide to provide care and support to vulnerable children and families across the country.

During a workshop held in Tsumeb on Friday, the National Programme Director, Iyaloo Ngodji said they have been working tirelessly for over 37 years to provide care and support to children who lost parental care and those at risk of losing parental care.

“Through our various programmes, we have touched the lives of thousands of children and young people to provide the care and support they need to thrive. As we strive forward to a new change, it is the right time for us to consolidate our strengths and identify opportunities for further development for bigger impact, so as to steer our institution to the next level of excellence,' she said.

She said their Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) and Alternative Care (AC) try to address the plight of children at risk of losing parental care and those who lost parental care.

“In the past year, we have developed gatekeeping guidelines, contextualised our youth policy, and in the same vein, we have done tangible work towards refocusing FSP to ensure programmes’ contextual relevance”, she said.

She added that

“This year, we embarked on the development of our first national strategy which sets a tone for innovation and robust advocacy for child care and protection with a strong emphasis on youth development and scaling up FSP for greater community impact,' she said.

The regional coordinator, Eyobi Berhanu, stated that the SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit international development organization that has branches in 134 countries and is headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria.

“The organisation provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children in need and protects their interests and rights around the world and it currently has three branches in Windhoek, Tsumeb and Ondangwa,” she explained.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency