Situation: In Mexico, more than 47 million people don’t have a home, let alone an address. They lack basic services and are not recognized by the government.

Brief: How to help make these communities visible?

Objectives: To get recognition from the government to plan ahead for basic services like, potable water, electricity and paving to comply with the first step toward achieving the Global Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

TECHO presents: Address the Invisible, a social initiative where technology dignified communities that no one had seen before. Techo gave them a decent place to live.Then in collaboration with Google, through their geolocation technology called Plus Codes, we gave them an address.

The more than 47 million people that don’t have a home, let alone an address, lack basic services and in consequence are not recognized by the government.

We needed to make these communities visible to people, but above all, we needed the government’s acknowledgement.

Through the voice of the community, Techo, the volunteers and with the undeniable use of Google technology, we were able to lobby with local government leaders and get the recognition to plan ahead for basic services like, potable water, electricity and paving.

These codes not only gave them an address, but addressed the problem with the corresponding authorities.

First, Techo gave people in informal settlements a decent place to live. Then in collaboration with Google, through the use of their geolocation technology called Plus Codes, we gave them an address.

Plus Codes are alphanumeric codes that take into consideration latitude and longitude. Totally free and open source and they work as a substitute for an address.

And then, local governments pledged to plan ahead for basic services like, potable water, electricity and paving.

Address The Invisible is not a regular advertising campaign. Consequently, results and metrics cannot be measured traditionally. However, the deep social impact and the success of the initiative is evident:

The support of government leaders like the Mayor of the Ixtapaluca Municipality in the State of Mexico allowed people to change their attitude towards communities that were otherwise invisible. Now Mexicans see Techo not only as builders of decent homes for the outcast, but as allies to help them claim a dignified living with basic services.

More than 50 media outputs, both local and international, covered the initiative.