Building Trip
From Ireland to Chile
Solidarity has no borders.
OUR TESTIMONY
Our time working with TECHO in Chile was a profoundly eye-opening experience. Throughout our time there we developed a clearer and clearer picture about the situation in Chile and the challenges faced by people living in the campamentos.
Simultaneously we gained an insight into TECHO’s unique and effective approach to solving these problems. TECHO’s emphasis on communication and relationship building creates an environment where people can be helped in the ways they need to be helped. They don’t just throw money at a problem.
Another thing that stuck with us is the TECHO volunteers. Not only are they unbelievably competent and effective, the are also reflective and compassionate individuals. The warmth and good nature that they bring to the communities creates a genuine close bond with the people they they work with.
Meeting the people from the campamentos, hearing their stories and seeing their standard of living was something that I doubt we will ever forget. It is very hard to turn away from suffering once you have seen it. The problems that they face seem insurmountable, but with organisations like Techo and with volunteers of their calibre, real life-changing things can happen for those that need it most.
Finally, we have to note the staggering warmth and generosity that we received from every TECHO volunteer and worker we met. Their genuine desire to help those in need, to show us the work they do, the challenges they face, and the solutions they implement is nothing but inspiring.
So from the bottom of our hearts,
thank you,
Mark, Mark, Lorcan and Cathal.
Our Project
We spent a week in Santiago de Chile with the TECHO team in Chile.
Together with inhabitants of the community of «la canchita» in Lo-Bernechea,we built emergency housing for one family.
We are TECHO
TECHO (teh-choh) is a youth-led non-profit organization that works in informal settlements to create a just society without poverty. Today over 200 million people live in poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean. No proper home, no potable water, sewage, or electricity access. Our mission is to change that reality, working to create system-changing solutions to end poverty and shape a future we all want to live in.
F.A.Qs
TECHO is an organisation with 25 years of history. During these years we have built more than 137,000 emergency homes for families in vulnerable situations and we have mobilised more than 1 million volunteers. As an organisation we have actively participated in public policy advocacy in several countries and we are the only organisation awarded by UN Habitat for our trajectory. We have a large number of TECHO alumni in high impact positions globally.
Here you can see the testimony of Kate, a beneficiary of TECHO’s programmes.
TECHO empowers community-led solutions to community problems. The communities themselves get to decide whether they want TECHOs assistance if at all, how much assistance they want and what issues they want help in addressing. For example, the process of selecting beneficiary families for the construction of a house is carried out with full community participation. The families of the community are surveyed and among themselves choose the priority criteria for allocation. Through a process of multiple and anonymous surveys, the community itself validates the selection process.
TECHO is a non-profit organisation whose values are based on transparency. We are part of Accountable now, a platform created in 2008 to audit transparency in organisations around the world. All our financial statements are public and accessible. To find out more about accountable now https://accountablenow.org/about-us/our-members/ and to see our financial statements. In the case of this campaign, all proceeds will be used to cover the cost of travel, construction of the house and technical accompaniment of the teams in the countries where the constructions are carried out. Our commitment is to be accountable and to provide all information requested.
As a social organisation with Latin American roots and presence in Europe we believe in the importance of international volunteering as part of personal development and as a contribution to society. Nowadays the most complex social problems know no borders and are global. Awareness and active participation in volunteer programmes seeks to create citizens of the world as agents of change. Let what is learned be a tool for active participation in one’s local community. People who participate in these programmes are immersed in the local culture and in the social reality of the country and especially of the vulnerable communities in which they work. At TECHO we believe that volunteering is the best way to participate in society in order to transform and change it.
