As we look back on 2024, we reflect on the impactful moments captured through the camera lens, showcasing remarkable progress and unity around the globe. This year, our favorite photos highlight the strides made in Creative’s programs in education, economic growth, social cohesion, peacebuilding and governance. These images tell the story of resilience, innovation and collective effort that continue to drive positive change.
Championing mother tongue literacy
USAID/Nigeria Leveraging Education Assistance Resources in Nigeria (LEARN) to Read
A volunteer teacher at a reading center in Bauchi State, Nigeria, assists children with their reading exercises. With support from USAID’s LEARN to Read Activity, this center is one of 100 established to enhance mother-tongue literacy among 5,000 pupils with the help of 400 dedicated volunteers. Equipped with learning materials provided by USAID, these centers offer children the opportunity to improve their reading skills both during and outside school hours. Following the success of these centers, more communities and schools are now looking to open reading hubs to enable more children to improve their reading.
Boosting citizen-government engagement
USAID/Burkina Faso Inclusive Governance for Resilience (IGR) Activity
Students from Groupe Scolaire Bethel in Douna, Burkina Faso, participated in a municipal Accountability Day, a critical space to promote dialogue, transparency, trust and civic engagement. As the event gained momentum, the students arrived, still in their school uniforms, likely coming straight from class. Their eagerness to join the discussions was striking — they were visibly enthusiastic about listening and contributing to the dialogue. Among them, this young woman proudly wore a headband adorned with flag, a subtle yet powerful symbol of active citizenship and national pride. The USAID Inclusive Governance for Resilience Activity provides technical and financial support to the partner municipalities to organize these days.
Water for El Rancho
USAID/Guatemala Tejiendo Paz
Many conflicts arise over access to natural resources. For nearly two years, only half of the 900 residents of the hillside community of El Rancho in Chiantla, Guatemala, had access to running water for one hour per day — a result of bureaucracy, local disputes and mismanagement. Small, overlooked and under-resourced, El Rancho had few options to secure water when the people’s supply was cut off. With support from USAID’s Tejiendo Paz, El Rancho’s Community Development Council worked with authorities to restore service and ensure residents had water.
Returned migrants regain their footing
USAID/Honduras Sembrando Esperanza
After a frightful trek from their small community in rural Honduras to the United States, Rickis Mabel Gálvez Zamora and her children were detained in Texas and sent home. Depressed and traumatized after their ordeal, Gálvez Zamora was fortunate to enter a pilot program designed to address the financial and emotional wellbeing and rights of an overlooked and underserved population in the irregular migration ecosystem. Developed by USAID’s Sembrando Esperanza and Ayuda en Acción, it has had remarkable success with 95 of 105 participants reporting improved social, psychological and economic conditions. Today, Gálvez Zamora is learning a trade, feeling better and her children are back in school.
Engaging youth entrepreneurs against VEOs
USAID/OTI Littorals Regional Initiative
Copargo, Benin, once beset by social tensions, unemployment and the threat of violent extremism, is now home to young entrepreneurs in the cashew industry. Through awareness sessions and community engagement, Copargo’s youth formed the GBAMBA Association to create economic opportunities, give them a stake in the local economy and enhance social cohesion with support from USAID/OTI’s Littorals Regional Initiative. The youth entrepreneurs produced their first batch of roasted cashews under the brand “N’KOMEINE d’Anandana.” A government official observed: “We’re witnessing a new energy in our youth. They’re creating solutions and building resilient communities.”
Accelerating learning for out-of-school girls
USAID/Somalia Bar ama Baro
A young girl holds a microphone while participating in an extracurricular debate activity organized by the USAID-funded Bar ama Baro (BAB) project in Somalia. This initiative, which promoted accelerated education for out-of-school youth, included debate competitions, sports tournaments and life skills sessions. The program aimed to empower girls by providing them with opportunities to build confidence, develop critical thinking skills and overcome barriers.
Vital services flow when governance works
Syria FURAT III
Water and wastewater systems in northeast Syria have been damaged by war, deteriorating infrastructure and lack of resources. As the governorate of Deir Ezzor rebuilds after years of conflict, the Facilitating Urban Recovery and Transition III program, the Deir Ezzor Civil Council and citizens worked to plan and undertake critical repairs. In the first three months of 2024, crews rehabilitated almost nine miles of the water network and provided vital maintenance to 45 drinking water stations. Workers also brought back online two drinking water stations in Al-Harijiya and Al-Badia, benefiting 60,000 people.
Ensuring all children have a chance to learn
USAID/Uzbekistan All Children Succeeding
Third-grade students in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, participate in a math lesson where they use sun-shaped cards for correct answers and cloud-shaped cards for incorrect ones. This visual teaching method supports an inclusive learning environment, benefiting all students, including those with hearing impairments. The USAID-funded All Children Succeeding (ACS) activity collaborates with the Government of Uzbekistan to enhance educational access and inclusion for all students, focusing on improving foundational skills from kindergarten to grade 5.
Leveraging the private sector
USAID West Africa Trade & Investment Hub
Nigerian farmers struggle to increase yields and meet consumer demand without quality seeds and fertilizers at affordable prices and modern agricultural practices. Through the USAID West Africa Trade & Investment Hub, Premier Seed Nigeria Ltd. produced and distributed improved maize, rice, soybean and cowpea seeds that are more resistant to drought and pests and provide higher yields than their counterparts. With proper spacing techniques, blended fertilizers tailored to their soil’s requirements and improved seeds, smallholder farmers saw substantial improvements in yield and profitability, showcasing the transformative potential of adopting advanced agricultural practices.
