The organisation known as 'Un Techo para mi País' ('a roof for my country', UTPMP) addresses the problems of shelter and social exclusion in informal settlements in 19 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. Volunteers work with families in the settlements to erect prefabricated wooden houses, 3 x 6 metres in dimension, which replace the precarious shacks in which the families have been living. The next stage in the process is to assist the families to improve their employment prospects, through training, micro-credit and funding for community projects.
 

UTPMP came into existence in 1997, yet the effects of its work had never been systematically assessed. A study was therefore undertaken to measure the impact of improved housing on the welfare of the families who had directly benefited from it and those which had not. Three countries were selected for the impact evaluation - El Salvador, Mexico and Uruguay - and a different firm implemented the study in each country. Sistemas Integrales was asked to provide Data Quality Assurance: assisting in the selection of variables to be measured, overseeing training and the content of training materials, and in general ensuring that the three country studies were consistent with each other[GG1] .

The impact evaluation ran for three years and field-work concluded in June 2011. Its results will provide reliable information about how better housing has benefited the health and social integration of the families which have participated in UTPMP programmes; this information, in turn, can be used to inform the design and implementation of other poverty-alleviation programmes.

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