“Providing a Roof That Allows One to Dream of a Better Life”: A Case Study of Working with Families in Extreme Poverty

Maria Tsekoura

doi:10.3390/socsci4020260

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of a youth organisation working with families in extreme poverty and lack of adequate housing in Chile and Mexico. It initially describes the considerable structural changes that relate to the emergence of the organisation, and then discusses how across context case study research that draws from the interpretivist interactionist tradition was employed. In the main body it presents interventions that aim to provide families with temporary accommodation, social support, education, micro-credit opportunities, and legal support. The paper aims to contribute to a discussion concerning wider insights to be gained from context-specific approaches in working with families. The article highlights the need for policy and practice that approaches families as complex, dynamic and context specific entities that are re-configured through their networks and interpersonal interactions, and are subject to particular plays of power relations. Furthermore, it argues for practice that fosters family agency that is based on recognition of strengths, emotional and cognitive aspects of decision making as well as nurturing of hope.

Highlights

A small settlement at the outskirts of Santiago was bustling with life on a Saturday morning in November 2013
Other volunteers are heading to the community centre where they will interact with pre-school children, while others are tutoring children in public as there is lack of space in the family house
On the way to the community centre of the settlement is an enclosure with animals, representing the support provided to a community member through micro-credit opportunities

Summary

Introduction

A small settlement at the outskirts of Santiago was bustling with life on a Saturday morning in November 2013. It took a long bus-ride and a fifteen min walk from the nearest community to arrive there. A number of volunteers arrive together in a car and scatter around the settlement, after a few minutes it becomes clear that they are looking for the families they work with and especially the children they are tutoring. The owner guides us around the enclosure with immense pride as this is the first opportunity she ever had to secure an income for her family This activity within the settlement was initiated and supported by Techo. The objectives of the organisation involve the promotion of community development within slums throughout the

Objectives

Methods

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Conclusion