The SOS Children's Villages centre in Sidi Bernoussi has just benefited, as part of a project called "Forssa", from significant support signed by the Accor Foundation. The managers of the latter, whose vocation is to provide technical and financial aid to solidarity actions, proceeded to hand over a cheque for 50,000 euros to the centre. This sum will allow the beneficiary women to make their projects a reality. The objective of the project is to make these mothers from disadvantaged backgrounds who are raising their children alone autonomous, through three training workshops (candle making, glassware and sewing). "Thanks to the support of the foundation, 80 women will be offered the possibility of entering the job market or creating their own cooperative, in order to sell items that they produce themselves. We are impatient to see the results of this project which will help these women to regain their dignity and to get out of the precariousness in which they live," indicates in a press release Tijania Thepegnier, HRD Accor Morocco. Opened in 2010, the SOS Children's Villages centre in Sidi Bernoussi had launched a "Family Strengthening Programme" as soon as it was created. In accordance with the objectives of the association, this centre's vocation is to help at-risk families in order to avoid the abandonment of their children. Single mothers in a precarious situation and without qualifications are the priority beneficiaries of this centre. As soon as they are integrated, they are immediately taken care of according to this programme which allows them to follow training, while their children are either schooled or looked after at the centre's nursery, or entrusted to nannies. The various services offered to beneficiaries thus encompass the schooling of children, daily meals for children and their families, access to medical care, psychological and legal support, in addition to training workshops (literacy, candle making, mirror making, glassware, cooking, sewing and bakery). "These women benefit from our support until their motivation and aptitude to practice a trade allow them to fly on their own and to provide for their children's needs alone," explain the managers of SOS Children's Villages. For its part, the Accor Foundation has supported, since its creation in 2008, 138 projects allowing the development of people and their integration into the community thanks to the mobilisation of more than 6,000 employees in 34 countries. For its approach, the foundation has defined three areas of engagement: local know-how by supporting socio-economic initiatives valuing traditional techniques and trades, the training and integration of young people in difficulty aged 15 to 30, as well as humanitarian and emergency aid, by helping populations living in precariousness.
Rescue mission
An association recognised as being of public utility, SOS Children's Villages has been active in Morocco since 1985. The object behind its creation is to help children in danger, those who have lost all family support or who are at risk of losing it. The association's mission is to ensure them the stability of a home and the warmth of family life, as well as appropriate education to prepare them for a life as autonomous and responsible adults.
Children who no longer have a family are welcomed into one of the 5 SOS Children's Villages, where they are raised by an SOS mother until their complete autonomy. Children who live in very vulnerable families (with a single mother in a situation of great distress) are for their part taken care of through the "Family Strengthening Programmes". These programmes aim to make the family autonomous after a few years. In 2012, 1,600 children benefit daily from the support of SOS Children's Villages in Morocco.
