TECHO is a youth led non-profit organization present in Latin America & the Caribbean. Through the collaborative work of families living in extreme poverty with youth volunteers, TECHO seeks to overcome poverty in slums.
Since its beginnings in Chile, TECHO undertook an expansion, and after 15 years has maintained operations in 19 countries across Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The initial phase of the intervention model consists of entering the slums and determining the issues that plague the families in need. Youth volunteers have their first glimpse of the realities that can be seen in the slums and work in the field in order to develop a diagnosis. Additionally, the volunteers strive to enhance the residents’ leadership skills by promoting organization, participation, and shared responsibilities in the process. Within this phase we emphasize the construction of transitional housing, which meets a need that is urgent and a priority in most slums.
