New Baraka – Building a Home with 30,000 People

The “New Baraka” microsite is a donation portal initiated by the YOU Foundation. Baraka is a slum in Dakar, Senegal, whose inhabitants want to work towards changing the future of the slum themselves but who lack the necessary financial means. The aim of the microsite was to facilitate the collection of donations in an easy way, thus aiding the inhabitants of the slum to help themselves. Therefore, the vision of building a “New Baraka” consisted of virtually disassembling the vision into its smallest components, including seeds, school materials, wood, PCs and so forth, and then, in a second step, selling these items easily via an online shop. The microsite starts by telling the history of the slum in colourful charming illustrations to convey the idea in a direct and emotionally appealing manner. Placed below them, visitors find tiles representing the individual donated objects, complemented by sound effects and short explanations. Requiring only a few clicks, the microsite invites visitors to support the project through concrete measures or purchases.