On October 10, SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde will celebrate its 50th anniversary. After half a century, the Luxembourg NGO is still determined to serve the world’s most vulnerable children and, with the support of its generous donors, to help build a world of fraternity, dignity, justice and peace for tomorrow’s children.
50 years ago, on October 10 1974, a small association was born in Luxembourg under the name of SOS-Interfonds. Its history was written by men and women of heart and conviction: Marcel Nilles (1925-2023), Barbara François and Hermann Gmeiner (1919-1986 ; the founder of the first SOS Children’s Village in Imst, Austria, in 1949, in the aftermath of the Second World War) and a handful of personalities. They were driven by the same idea: to bring a smile and a brighter future to orphaned, abandoned and distressed children around the world. “You need a lot of patience and a little energy to achieve such a great goal”, Marcel Nilles would later say.
SOS-Interfonds is a member of the SOS Children’s Villages International (then SOS-Kinderdorf International) federation, and its mission is to support the work of SOS Children’s Villages around the world, and in particular to help build SOS Children’s Villages to help children without family care. The aim is to enable these children, who have often experienced the worst, to find a new loving family, a warm home and stable reference points, so that they can grow up harmoniously and in good health, gain access to knowledge and build up a solid background, before finally setting out on their own…
The small charity worked hard to raise public awareness, raise funds for the SOS projects it was involved in, and win the loyalty of its first supporters, before receiving subsidies from the government and the City of Luxembourg and developing public funding. In 1986, SOS-Interfonds became an NGO. In 2005, SOS-Interfonds changed its name to SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde, the year Her Royal Highness Grand Duchess Maria Teresa granted the association her High Patronage.
From initial co financing to the strengthening of public funds
In 2010, it signed its first cooperation agreement with the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. At the same time, it took the path of development and supported family strengthening programs to prevent child abandonment and consolidate biological families. Since 2017, it has gone even further with ambitious development programs that focus on children’s rights and accompany communities and child protection actors. Since 2022, it has made helping young people find employment a key focus of the 13 programs (in five partner countries: Benin, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and Uzbekistan) included in its fourth cooperation agreement with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In addition, in response to emergencies around the world and alongside the federation, sister associations and partners in the field, the association is mobilized wherever conflicts, natural disasters and major crises endanger the lives of children and their families (Ethiopia, Palestine, Ukraine, etc.). Finally, in 2024, its anniversary year, it is involved in five education projects (Cape Verde, Colombia, Laos, Morocco, Central African Republic).
Projects in 90 countries
For 50 years, SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde has accompanied children, young people, families and communities through projects it has supported or managed in 90 countries. For 50 years, SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde has accompanied children, young people, families and communities through projects that it has supported or managed in 90 countries. Although the programmes have changed over the decades, the objectives remain the same: to ensure that no child grows up alone, that everyone benefits from a full and happy childhood, and that vulnerable children and young people around the world can live better lives within their families and communities. In 2024, celebrating its 75th anniversary, the global organisation SOS Children’s Villages International, present in more than 130 countries and territories for nearly 3 million children, young people and adults, is still at the service of children and young people who have lost or are at risk of losing parental care and is based on three main pillars of action: prevention (preserving the family unit and preventing separation), protection (ensuring the most appropriate care) and advocacy (finding the best policies).
The jubilee of the Luxembourg office
SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde is a key figure in Luxembourg and in the countries where it operates in the field of children’s rights and protection. Co-founder in 2011 of the non-profit organisation Don en confiance, it informs different audiences, raises and manages funds, implements and supervises programmes, provides technical expertise and supports its partners in the field in their safeguarding policies. In the Grand Duchy, it can count on public and private partners, donors, committed sponsors in more than 100 countries, volunteers, etc.
Half a century has passed, a page has been turned, but the story goes on for our NGO SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde with a third President, Anouk Agnes, after Barbara François (until 2010) and Marjolijne Frieden (2010-2020), with loyal friends whom we thanks warmly for their trust, their commitment and their generosity, and with new members who have joined us in our fight to protect the rights of children and young people worlwide.