Gemeinsam TECHO e.V.

TECHO is a youth led, non-profit organisation that seeks to overcome poverty in slums, through the joint work of families living in extreme poverty and youth volunteers. Our operation was founded in 1997 by a group of young Chileans, united in the belief that it was possible to eradicate poverty in Latin American slums. The sense of urgency and need for shelter that Chilean slum residents exhibited encouraged these initial TECHO volunteers to build transitional houses alongside a number of families. This group of young people focused their energy on finding concrete solutions to the problems that the communities faced every day. This initiative became an institutional challenge that today is shared across three continents. In 2001 we began our organisation’s expansion across Latin America, opening our most recent branch in Venezuela, at the end of 2010. In Latin America we currently work in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. By 2010 TECHO had operations in 19 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean and had grown to include two offices in the United States. By 2013 TECHO had expanded to Europe, establishing our first European office in London, UK.