Child sponsorship background from San Vincente, El Salvador

San Vicente is a municipality in the San Vicente department of El Salvador and is one of the smallest departments in El Salvador.  Higlights include the Tower of San Vicente, located in park Cañas.  It was damaged by the earthquake of 2001 that was in the country  Local festivals take place in the city centre at Cañas park.  Among those is the gastronomic festivals that are usually every month.  It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Vicente.  Educational establishments include many public schools, one for kids with disabilities and two colleges.

SOS Children's Villages decided to build an SOS Children's Village in San Vicente in central El Salvador, because this region experiences social problems which particularly affect the lives of many families and children. The region has a high unemployment rate; there are many young single mothers who often do not have an adequate education and are liable to be reduced to poverty and to abandon their children.

SOS Children's Village San Vicente is situated in the northwest of the region's capital, the town of San Vicente. It consists of 12 family houses, the director's house and administrative buildings, community rooms and a playground. It opened its doors in June 2004.

There is an adjoining SOS Social Centre, which comprises a child day-care centre as well as training workshops.  The workshops offer training for youths and young mothers in order to improve their chances on the labour market and their living conditions.  The child day-care centre has a capacity of up to 175 children and babies; it is also open to the children of the local population. Children are taken care of while their parents are at work, so that they can earn a living and keep their families together.  Since 2005, the SOS Social Centre has been supporting local families to develop different measures of family strengthening, for example to organise childminding programmes.