TECHO House | PALO IT Case Study

Context

TECHO is a non-profit that seeks to uplift the over 100 million people stricken with poverty throughout communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Through its social projects, the organization seeks to improve the living conditions of these communities through the collective efforts of its volunteers.

Aligning with our ethos to use ‘tech as a force for good’, working together with TECHO was a no-brainer, and our team set out to develop a free-to-use platform in support of our shared goals.

As a first step, PALO IT ran an Ideathon & Hackathon with several likeminded businesses. During the event, we identified crucial challenges faced in the ESG sphere, and eventually narrowed on the 'TECHO House' platform as the most promising solution, immediately fast-tracking its development within the PALO IT Impact Lab.

Challenge

Like countless others, TECHO was adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as its operations were designed to be entirely on-site. To better understand and address the team’s needs in this sphere, PALO IT’s design team conducted a series of strategic interviews with key stakeholders within the organization to better map out pain points and fixes.

At the top of the list - the centralisation of community and project data, a common issue faced by many non-profits. The challenge in this domain was finding the right digital tool to facilitate TECHO’s research team in collecting data from communities, some of which still lack Internet access. Sourcing and cataloguing this information would be crucial in detecting and prioritising families in need, and tracking project development amongst each community.

Outcomes

The final product? TECHO House, an application that efficiently analyses survey data obtained by volunteers, thereby drastically improving resource allocation and decision making for potentially life-saving social projects. Functionalities include:

Sourcing information for data-backed priorisation.
Automated analysis, processing, and computation of this data, eliminating manual efforts otherwise spent on less-than-optimal platforms (e.g. MS Excel).
Intelligent summaries of project progress, customised through a number of bespoke dashboards, charts and filters, allowing for evaluation and future-focused planning.

Interested in tapping into the power of data management and analytics for your next impact project? Say "hi" to our team of experts, we'd love chat.

"The Ideathon & Hackathon 4 Good opened the doors for us to be able to more efficiently analyse data gathered from the social projects we implement. Backed by the talent of the PALO IT team and all the participants, we are confident that TECHO House is the key piece we need to make better decisions for the benefit of Latin American communities"