The first SOS Children’s Village was founded in 1949 in Austria, near the small town of Imst in the Tyrol, at a time of dire need. The disastrous effects of the Second World War and the chaos which followed the end of hostilities on many of the children were too apparent.

 Indeed, only in the Tyrol province where the first SOS Children’s Village is located, has the office for the disabled of Innsbruk (capital of the Tyrol province) taken a census of the consequences of the war on January 1, 1942.  The result: 2654 widows, 4670 children lost one parent and 102 orphans, all because of World War two.

Due to this harmful situation, and considering the generalized failure of the model implemented by the Austrian government as regards the care given to orphaned and abandoned children after Second World War, some young people, mostly students, decided to create an organization called “Societas Socialis” (in English : Social Society) in order to help children in need.

These people were Hermann Gmeiner, Josef Jestl, Ludwig Kögl, Herbert Pfanner, Franz Müller, Maria Hofer, Hertha Troger, Hedwig Weingartner and Hélène Didl.

Hermann Gmeiner was the leader of the group. He succeeded in breathing in SOS Children's Village the quintessence that quickly made it a worldwide Non-Governmental Organization. Nowadays, SOS Children’s Village helps in 132 countries and territories in all over the world.

As far as Benin is concerned, the first SOS Children’s village was opened in 1987 at Abomey-Calavi, a second in 1999 in Natitingou and a third in 2005 in Dassa-Zoumé.