Cultural capital of Maharashtra and close to India’s economic hub Mumbai, Pune combines old world charm in the midst of rapid change. The city has emerged as a place of excellence for education, telecommunications and medical facilities.

Started in 1979, SOS Children’s Village Pune provides warm, loving nurture to 202 children, 83 boys and 119 girls, under the care of 21 dedicated mothers. The Village campus spread over 10 acres of land has twenty family cottages, health care centre, primary school and playground. 27 new children have come to the Children’s Village in the past year and have adjusted well in their SOS families. The general health at the Village is good with medical camps, vaccinations and check ups being held regularly.

The Village achieved 83% results at the primary and secondary school levels. The performance of children in the class X and XII State board exams too has been very encouraging. Girls passing out have joined the Arts, Commerce, Hotel Management and Fashion Designing. Three have taken up B.Sc and Nursing.

32 children attended Martial Arts classes and 26 girls are appearing for Bharat Natyam exams. A 15 day residential camp was organized for children at Baramati to get them involved with yoga, meditation, and drawing and craftwork activities. The Village is abuzz during festivals. Gokul Ashtami, Holi Ganesh Utsav, Diwali and Christmas are enjoyed by all.

67 boys are on roll at the youth house, 49 are doing University, Vocational or Training Courses and 18 are pursuing high school education. 20 girls are using the girl’s facility and are doing Vocational courses or studying at the University. Many of our youth, girls and boys have completed apprenticeships and have joined well known companies, hospitals and schools. One of our girls received the Avishkar Award for excellence in performance, while two girls were married during the year.

This programme provides support to single women headed families living in poor economic conditions. 250 children from 123 families in the neigbouring community are being given educational and nutritional assistance. Workshops in areas like Career Counselling, Personality Development and Self Help Group formation etc are held regularly and children enrolled in vocational courses like Basic Computer, Typing etc. 14 mothers completed the Fashion Design Course and have now started earning on their own. 5 Self Help Groups too have been successfully formed.