The Niall Mellon Township Trust was started by Niall Mellon in 2002. His aim is to build quality social housing for impoverished families living in shacks in the townships of South Africa.

• The charity operates a year round house building programme.
• We are now the largest charity provider of quality social housing in South Africa.
• Since the charity first started it has built 15,000
  homes and that figure continues to grow.
• 10,000 volunteers have joined with us over the last 7 years, 6,500 from Ireland and 3,500 from South Africa.
• In 2009 we initiated our own skills development programme, training young people from the townships in a wide range of construction disciplines.

Join us on our Building Blitz on 13th-20th November 2010. Find Out more >>

Our Model

Housing is a critical component in poverty alleviation. We believe that by replacing shacks with decent housing and providing community assistance and facilities we can significantly improve the health, education and employment prospects of extremely disadvantaged people.

Organisation Goals and Mission

• To improve the quality of life for extremely disadvantaged people by helping them to gain
  access to a good quality home.
  

• To increase the spirit of volunteerism in Ireland and abroad.
  

• To help develop the spirit of philanthropy in Ireland and beyond.

Housing is a critical component in poverty alleviation. We believe that by replacing shacks with decent housing and providing community facilities we can significantly improve the health, education and employment prospects of extremely disadvantaged people.

Building Through Partnership

It is our aim to work in partnership with Volunteers, community and government. Our Volunteers help us to create awareness of our mission. They help to generate funding for our year round house building projects and Skills Training Programme.
To read more on our Skills Development Programme click here.

The volunteers continue to help bring social housing to the fore of overseas development work. We bring Volunteers to South Africa to participate in week long Building Blitzes and over 10,000 Irish and South African Volunteers have participated in our Building Blitz programmes.
To volunteer on our Building Blitz click here.

Our continued exisitance is only possible due to the generosity and support we receive from Volunteers, the Irish and South African Governments and donations we receive from the general public.

Community Development

Community Development is an important part of the work of the charity. We engage the local people in the planning and design of their new communities. We build facilities for use by the community. The charity has built community halls, libraries, communal gardens and school halls. The charity currently employs 2,000 sub-contracting staff from the townships. We also provide training through our Skills Training Programme.

Our Community development programmes assist local enterprise initiatives to solve local problems. Some of our local community activities include: leadership training, home ownership workshops, environmental awareness and small business development programmes.