SOS Children's Village Cap Haïtien is situated at a distance of six kilometres from the town of Cap Haïtien. The surrounding area has a very low population density and is mainly used for agriculture. Cap Haïtien is the second most important city of the country due to its harbour and its famous monument, the citadel of La Ferrière.
SOS Children's Village Cap Haïtien has been set up on a large site of 16,000 sq. metres. Approximately half the site is used for farming and gardening. With its 22 family houses, it is the biggest SOS Children's Village of Central America and the Caribbean. There is also a village director's house, an aunts' (family helpers') house, a room for basic medical supplies and an administration and service area. On the site of the SOS Children's Village, a building which houses an SOS Youth Facility and an SOS Vocational Training Centre has been erected. The SOS Youth Facility was opened in 2003. The number of youth communities varies according to need. In these communities, young adults gradually prepare for future independence under the care of a youth supervisor.
There is also an SOS Hermann Gmeiner Primary and Secondary School, which is open to the children from the SOS Children's Village as well as to children from the local community. The school with a capacity of up to 350 pupils consists of seven classes, a science laboratory and an assembly hall. Pupils can take part in extra classes, such as dancing, art or sports. The SOS Hermann Gmeiner Primary and Secondary School has a very good reputation and meets the requirements laid down by the Haitian Ministry of Education. Approximately a third of the pupils come from the neighbourhood of the SOS Children's Village.
The establishment of an SOS Vocational Training Centre in Cap Haïtien in 1999 was an important measure for the future of SOS youths and young people of the local community. In Haiti, the situation on the national job market is very bad, especially for youngsters. Many of them are unemployed or do odd jobs which are not sufficient to make a living. Good professional skills are very important in this situation. The SOS Vocational Training Centre offers professional training for about 270 youngsters. In different workshops, they train for the jobs of locksmith, tailor, carpenter, plumber, electrician, car mechanic, refrigeration engineer or hairdresser. The SOS Vocational Training Centre also offers literacy courses for adults from the local community.
Since 2005, the SOS Children's Village has been running two SOS Social Centres. One of them houses a child day-care centre where up to 160 children from the local community are looked after while their parents are working. Apart from that, there are different workshops for women, family and community empowerment. Another SOS Social Centre organises childminding programmes in different neighbourhoods of Cap Haïtien, integrating several hundred families. These measures of family strengthening and empowering help to prevent poverty and child abandonment.