Kaira Looro is the most important and influential non-profit architecture competition, organized by the humanitarian organization Balouo Salo, aimed primarily at students and young architects, engineers or designers and focused on humanitarian architecture.

The competition has a jury composed of the most renowned and award-winning architects in the world including: Kengo Kuma (Jury President since 2016), Benedetta Tagliabue (EMBT), Agostino Ghirardelli (SBGA), Sir David Adjaye OM OBE (David Adjaye Associates), Mario Cucinella (MCA), Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramón Vilalta (RCR Arquitectes), Amanda Levete (AL_A), Manuel Aires Mateus, Raul Pantaleo (TAM Associati), Giancarlo Mazzanti (El Equipo Mazzanti), Amanda Levete (AL_A), Urko Sanchez (Urko Sanchez Architects), Emmanuelle Moureaux, Tosin Oshinowo (Oshinowo Studio), Sharon Davis, Mpheti Morojele, Saad El Kabbaj, Driss Kettani, Mohamed Amine Siana and many others.

The name of the competition “Kaira Looro” is in the Mandinga language: an ethnic group widespread in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and Mali. The meaning is “building peace” or “architecture for peace”, that is, an approach aimed at building a supportive environment where peace reigns.

The event has the following fundamental objectives:
- raise awareness in the international community on humanitarian issues,
- offer international visibility and important opportunities for professional growth to young architectural talents, thanks to prestigious internship awards at the best architectural firms in the world.
- donate the entire proceeds of the competition to charity projects.
The competition promotes a sustainable approach by encouraging research into architecture that can offer a concrete response to climate change and humanitarian crises.

The winning project will be evaluated and, where applicable, built as a charity project by the Balouo Salo organization, which will verify its technological, humanitarian and economic feasibility, and its compatibility with the beneficiary context. The organization may therefore reserve the right to make changes to the project to make it feasible and involve the winners, recognizing, in any case, the role of creators of the architectural concept to the team members. If the project does not meet the organization's criteria, the organization may create another award-winning project. All the award-winning projects are therefore intended to be donated free of charge to the Balouo Salo Organization, which may also create, share and donate them to other organizations, partner institutions and ministries, engaged in the development of rural communities in Africa.

The competition has no profit-making purpose and all proceeds will be donated to charity.

Balouo Salo is an independent charitable organisation with the objectives of solving social emergencies, contributing to the improvement of the living conditions of disadvantaged communities in developing countries and raising the awareness of the international community on the issues of emergencies, climate change and human rights. The words 'Balouo Salo' are in the Mandinka language, the majority ethnic group in the area in which the organisation will intervene, and were chosen by the village chief of a locality in southern Senegal. Their meaning is 'a bridge to life'.

The organisation's main humanitarian activities include:
- Promoting accessibility to drinking water by building infrastructure such as dams, wells and boreholes equipped with purification plants that provide free purified water to limit health risks;
- Improving public health by building facilities and infrastructure, donating medical supplies, as well as training health personnel and the community;
- Protecting the right to education through projects that improve the school system by building or renovating schools, training students and teaching staff, and donating school materials and supplies;
- Carrying out communication and training activities on human rights, anti-discrimination and inequalities, seeking to create a society based on justice and equal rights;
- Involving local and international communities in activities and projects through conferences and seminars, but also during construction processes, in order to create awareness and social responsibility.
All Balouo Salo projects are developed and implemented with the direct involvement of the beneficiary community, in order to achieve the ultimate goal of self-sufficiency, and are entirely financed by private donations and fundraising events including 'Kaira Looro'.


More information: www.balouosalo.com