PIKPA

The Patriotic Foundation for Social Welfare and Perception, or PIKPA, was founded in 1914 as the “Patriotic Association of Greek Women”, to assist with the hospitalisation of the sick and wounded during World War I, and aid poor families whose providers were conscripted. After the war, it was renamed multiple times and gradually oriented towards child and motherhood protection. In 1929, it was brought under the authority of the Ministry of Health. In 1939 it was named PIKPA, and mandated with both childhood and motherhood welfare. After World War II, the organisation went through numerous changes in administrative structure and oversight, and collaborated with the Red Cross on matters of child welfare and care, among other charitable roles, and then with the International Children’s Fund and UNICEF. In the 1950s and 1960s, PIKPA’s services included schools for medical personnel, mobile medical units, clinics, hospitals, nursery schools. Since 1925, it had also been operating summer camps for children. The first PIKPA structure for disabled children was opened in 1956, in Voula. Until its dissolution, the organisation operated most of the institutions for disabled children in Greece. In 1998, the organisation was merged with the “Mitera” Infant Center and other institutions into the National Organisation of Children’s Care, or EOKF. Its units were brought under the authority of regional governments. Although the organisation has been dissolved, the name PIKPA survives in everyday names of various children institutions around Greece.