Commit to Change
The world's local bank- USA – Higher education support for students
- France – HSBC Education Foundation
- Korea – Island Watch for a Future Generation
- Malaysia – Reading and Writing Programme
- UK – Thriftwood school
- New Zealand – The Gifted Kids Programme
- China – Rural teacher training course
- UK – Kielder Challenge
- Singapore – Youth Excellence Initiative
- Australia – HSBCkids
- UK and Korea – Outward Bound
- USA – Boys & Girls Clubs of America
- Global – Future First: Investing in our children
- UK – On-line mathematics
- South Africa – Disadvantaged schools
- Brazil – HSBC Solidarity Institute
- USA – Jumpstart
- Thailand – HSBC children's book
- UK – Tall Ships Youth Trust
- China and Hong Kong – Mainland/Hong Kong Exchange Programme in Special Education
- Malta and the UK – Eco-Schools
- UK – HSBC scholars
- India – Madhapur Mandal school
- UK – School governors
- Hong Kong, China, and Brazil – Zippy's Friends
- USA and UK – Teach for America/Teach First
- Canada – York University scholarship fund
- UK – Sailing Academies
- China – Soaring under the sun
- China – HSBC China Charity Federation Fund
SOS Children's Villages
In 1949, the first SOS Children's Village was founded in Austria to help children who had lost their homes and families during the second world war. Today, SOS Children's Villages is the world's largest orphan charity. The focus is a family approach to the lifelong care of orphaned, abandoned and destitute children, in addition to integrated community outreach programmes for families in need.
Villages
SOS Children's Villages (SOS) has had a huge beneficial impact on the lives of many street children and continues to do so. One of their most well-established programmes is the SOS Children's Village.
Today, SOS runs 444 children's villages in 124 countries, providing direct care for 60,000 children. Direct care involves getting children off the streets and into a safe environment and it also provides a community of support for the children. They have 'brothers and sisters' to play with and learn from, an SOS 'mother' to care for them everyday, and an education, so that when they leave the village they have the prospect of a brighter future before them.
Chad, Africa - SOS Children's Village
SOS Children's Village N'djamena opened in 2005 and was Chad's first SOS Children's Village. Built on land donated by the government, the village is home to 120 children living in 12 'family' houses.
Alongside the village, there are three further SOS programmes that support the surrounding community: a nursery school that can care for up to 60 children, a primary school for up to 180 pupils and a medical centre that can treat around 600 patients per month.
Outreach programmes
Many children who live in an SOS Children's Village have been abandoned by their families who do not have the necessary resources to care for them. As well as taking children into the villages, SOS has also developed community programmes in an attempt to support families before they reach this crisis situation. These programmes include child care, counselling, vocational training and medical support.
Ukraine - SOS Family Strengthening Programme
Many people in the Ukraine have experienced hardship due to the poor economy, illness from the Chernobyl disaster, and the increased prevalence of HIV/AIDS. These hardships have caused many to turn to drug or alcohol abuse and this, combined with other social and economic factors, has affected many parents' ability to care for their children, in many cases leading to abandonment.
SOS began its support work in Kiev in 2003; it ranges from food and household donations to running a playbus scheme, which provides educational activities to over 3,000 children. SOS has tackled the HIV/AIDS problem directly by opening a counselling centre for the most at-risk children and their parents. This has been expanded to include four local schools in an attempt to prevent transmission of the disease. So far the centre has helped almost 2,000 people.
Emergency relief
SOS's global presence makes it ideally situated to assist when disaster strikes. In recent years, SOS has helped the victims of tsunamis, earthquakes, and other crises. HSBC has worked with SOS on a number of emergency relief projects.
The Asian tsunami (also known as the Indian Ocean tsunami) in December 2004 killed around 230,000 people. Many others, however, including children, lost their homes, families and possessions. SOS began providing help in the first crucial hours after the tsunami struck and it is still helping victims to get their lives back on track today.
Six new SOS Children's Villages are being constructed in the region, and will provide homes and support for 800 children who were orphaned by the tsunami. In addition, SOS is helping to build 2,200 houses for 11,500 people and has provided 343 fishing boats to help 1,120 families rebuild their lives and livelihoods.
To find out more about SOS Children's Villages, click here
