Providing children with a loving home in dignity and warmth, supporting them and their families in difficult life situations, finding ways out of the crisis with them - that is the central task of SOS Children's Villages.

With the construction of the first SOS Children's Village in Imst in Tyrol in 1949, Hermann Gmeiner (1919-1986), together with a group of dedicated women and men, laid the foundation for a global humanitarian idea. As defining elements for an SOS Children's Village, they developed the "four SOS Children's Village Principles": mother, sibling, house, village.

Today, SOS Children's Villages is represented in 135 countries and operates more than 550 SOS Children's Villages as well as more than 1,500 other child and youth care programs and family support programs. These include kindergartens, schools, social centers, medical centers and emergency response programs.