The provincial capital of Esmeraldas is in the north province of the same name. Esmeraldas is an administrative seat, a major harbour, and a very popular holiday destination on the Pacific Ocean. Esmeraldas is in a region that is farmed intensively, where there are mainly banana and rubber tree plantations. Other agricultural sectors include cattle breeding and the trade of wood and cocoa.
SOS Children's Village Esmeraldas is situated on 1.8 hectares of land at the mouth of a river, about 30 kilometres from the town of the same name, and is right on the main road to the small town of Atacames. The SOS Children's Village is only 300 metres from the Pacific Ocean and has twelve family houses, a village director's house, an administrative building with offices and a house for the SOS aunts (SOS Children’s Village mothers in training who assist current SOS mothers in their everyday work and stand in for them if they are ill or on holiday).
An SOS Kindergarten, which is also part of the SOS Children's Village, opened in 1980 and has a capacity of up to 30 preschool children from both the SOS Children's Village and the neighbourhood. SOS Social Centre Esmeraldas opened in mid 1997 and is also run as a day-care centre. Up to 150 babies and children can be supervised in the SOS Social Centre's seven group rooms. Two SOS Youth Facilities (for girls and boys) were opened in urban Ibarra. Young people from the SOS Children's Village can be housed here for the period of their secondary or vocational education, which gradually prepare them for an independent life.