working in casual, badly paid and unprotected jobs. The city has one of the highest official rates of unemployment in the country, and only a small proportion of those without a job receive benefits.

Providing support to families and loving homes to children

The high unemployment and inflation rates in Azerbaijan have affected the lives of children; many of whom end up losing parental care. At present most of the children who cannot live with their families end up living in state-run institutions. SOS Children's Villages provides an alternative by providing family-based care for vulnerable children. The municipal authorities donated the plot of land where our organisation is based, 14 kilometres outside the centre of Baku. Due to the increase in number of children losing parental care, we have createdsuch as theatre, dancing or crafts workshops. Educational games teach the children about their rights. At the same time the Playbus team shows parents and teachers new teaching methods and ideas.

In Baku we also run a kindergarten, where both children from the neighbouring families and those from the SOS families can be cared for during the day. We work closely with the local schools to enhance the skills of teachers and we support individual children by offering tuition in areas where they are struggling at school.

When children can no longer be cared for by their parents they can find a loving home with one of the SOS mothers. There are 14 SOS families who can care for up to 91 children. When children are ready to leave their