programme which aims to meet the health, nutrition, stimulation and early learning / education needs of children below six years of age in an integrated manner so as to foster their development. The programme offers health, nutrition and hygiene education to mothers, non-formal pre-school education to children aged three to six, supplementary feeding for all children below six years and diet for pregnant and nursing mothers, growth monitoring and basic healthcare services such as immunisation and vitamin A supplements. The programme today covers over million children. These services are delivered in an integrated manner at the childcare centre named ‘anganwadi’.
SOS Children’s Villages: This is an independent non–governmental social organisation which has pioneered a family approach to the long term care of orphaned and abandoned children. SOS villages have the vision of providing family-based, long-term care to children who can no longer grow up with their biological families. In each SOS home there is a ‘mother’ who looks after - children. This unit lives like a family and the children experience relationships and love once again, which helps children to recover from traumatic experiences.
They grow up in a stable family environment, and are supported individually until they become independent young adults. The SOS families live together, forming a supportive ‘village’ environment. They are integrated with the local community and contribute to the social life. In India, the first SOS village was set up in .
Now the organisation cares for about needy/abandoned children in unique villages across the country. Whenever India has experienced unrest or environmental and natural disasters like the toxic gas accident of in Bhopal, or devastating cyclones, , catastrophic earthquakes as well as Tsunami the SOS Children’s Villages rendered immediate assistance with emergency relief programmes, which were converted into permanent facilities, mostly SOS Children’s Villages. Children’s Homes run by the Government for children from – years who are in state custody for various reasons. There are three kinds of homes for children: a) Observation Homes where children stay temporarily till the completion of an investigation to track down their parents and