Photography Services for Non-Profits: Women & Girls Empowerment
Planned Social Concern in Rajasthan, India provides loans for women entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses. This women grew a successful clothing business and was able to build her own home. Photograph: ©Steven Wade Adams
Supporting Women’s Development Programs
While I was writing this post, the world of international development began experiencing an earthquake that will reshape the entire sector and how such work is done, probably forever. Even when things feel chaotic and without hope, we must continue to seek ways to innovate so that critical initiatives can continue around the world. While the future of many programs supported by USAID are uncertain at best, I am fortunate to have worked with organizations around the world that have found other mechanisms, to advance gender equity and development. In late February, 2025 I will depart for India once again where I am collaborating with C3I (Center for Catalyzing Change) with the stated objective to “equip, mobilize, educate, and empower women and girls to achieve gender equality”.
Photography is a powerful tool for communicating the goals, dreams, vision and pride of these women of all ages in these critical programs. I particularly like to capture and sharing the stories of women’s entrepreneurship as well as gender equity which remains a significant barrier around the world.
While images can convey powerful messages, the messages must be carefully planned and selected to achieve the increasingly complex world of a wide range of influential stakeholders, politicians and advocacy groups as well as the beneficiaries themselves.
For more than a decade, I have captured photographs and video that document programs addressing inequities while creating advocacy for girls and women facing obstacles in the United States and abroad.
Visual Storytelling and Creating Photos that Highlight Women’s Empowerment
Photography is more than a technique or art—it is an advocacy tool. When collaborating with you to create imagery for womens programs, I always prioritize an understanding the cultural, social, and economic contexts of the women whose stories I seek to document. My goal is always to create visual narratives that honor women’s journeys while promoting actionable support for programs that advance opportunities for women and girls. Now more than ever, getting the stories of how these programs impact individuals is more important than ever.
A Collaborative Process
One of the hallmarks of my approach is collaboration. Before the first photograph is taken, I always prefer to spend a good deal of time to engage with and listen to program staff and ultimately, the subjects themselves. In fact, I have created a methodology to capture and refine strategic intent for photography projects through use of a template known as the Humanitarian Photography Brief. This participatory method fosters trust and results in images that feel personal, genuine, and deeply impactful. Click on this link to download a free copy and send me a message if you would like to discuss in more detail. In light of the range of current challenges being faced by our sector, the planing phase become more critical than ever.
Advancing Women in Non-Traditional Leadership Roles
Photography and video serves as powerful tools for documenting and advancing women in non-traditional leadership roles. In various projects, I have sought to reflect the strength and resilience of these women but also challenge stereotypes associated with leadership. By highlighting their stories, I aim to inspire others and foster a broader understanding of the diverse expressions of leadership.
I will soon be visiting Bihar and Kolkata, India to photograph the work of the non-profit known as Center for Catalyzing Change (C3I). They mentor women and train them to take the lead in addressing structural problems to address gender inequities and remove barriers to work, healthcare, education.. I will update this post to include some of the output of this important work. Please subscribe to my newsletter so you don’t miss updates on these exciting programs.
A state-sponsored program in Bihar, India has provided development opportunities for women to assume managerial roles traditionally held by men. Photograph: ©Steven Wade Adams
Highlighting Women Entrepreneurship as a Pathway to Empowerment
Entrepreneurship is a cornerstone of many women’s empowerment programs, offering a pathway to financial independence and community leadership. I love to engage in such projects and capture the fascinating innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of these strong women. Whether it’s a woman running a small textile business, leading a cooperative, or innovating within a traditionally male-dominated field, it is the goal to celebrate the determination and ingenuity of women while emphasizing the systemic support needed to sustain their successes.
After obtaining a series of micro-loans from Planned Social Concern, this women in Rajasthan, India was able to grow her local business and finally open her own permanent shop.
Tailoring Stories for Impact
While many of my images can tell a story on their own, they are often part of larger narratives designed to align with the mission of the development programs with whom I partner. Whether creating content for social media campaigns, donor reports, or community exhibitions, I works closely with organizations to ensure the imagery supports their specific advocacy goals. As I have described for other projects, the results are always strongest when the collaboration with marketing and communication teams is robust. I pride myself in the ability to ask hard questions regarding strategic intent and to productively collaborate to create meaningful outcomes.
Catalysts for Change
My commitment to my photographic craft is rooted in a belief that visual storytelling can be a catalyst for change. By highlighting women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship, my goal in telling individual stories to contributes to the broader movement for the development of women. For organizations seeking to tell these vital stories with authenticity and impact, I offers more than photos—I offer a partnership in advocacy.
If you’d like to explore how we might collaborate to tell these important stories, I hope you will reach out by visiting the link below.
Below are selected examples of work created while on assignment in the area of Women’s and Girls Empowerment.
ASSIGNMENTS
Planned Social Concern: Rajasthan, India
Planned Social Concern is an Indian non-profit that promotes the development of vocational skills and micro credit & related services to women entrepreneurs in Rajasthan. The small size loan is referred by the term Microcredit that is mostly used by the micro entrepreneurs and low income households.During this assignment, I captured many success stories in and around Jaipur includingwomen that were able to build their own shops, garment production studios, small livestock production operations and small-scale production of crafts and household goods.
In addition to some examples cited below, I will travel to India in March 2025 on assignment for the Centre for Catalyzing Change where I will work with the creative staff and conduct a range of empowering women photoshoots and create images for their Womens empowerment campaigns. Sign up for my newsletter to not miss any of my upcoming updates.
PCI India Girls Vocational Education Center, New Delhi, India
The PCI India Vocational Center provides a place to develop marketable skills and create a stronger sense of identity for young women from less advantaged neighborhoods in New Delhi, India. Photograph: ©Steven Wade Adams
PCI India’s has been advancing social and economic development of women and girls in New Delhi by addressing gender barriers by raising awareness, increasing community support for the agency of women and girls and reducing restrictive gender-based practices. PCI India also engages men and boys as partners and recognize their integral role in changing repressive gender norms. For this program I spent time with the girls empowerment program in New Delhi that actively recruited girls from impoverished neighborhoods such as Kalandar Colony in New Delhi. These teens have little education and a limited future apart from the prospect of picking garbage or perhaps an early arranged marriage. The program include teaching computer and record keeping skills and garment production, both of which have provided a range of options for young girls to expand their options for far greater earning ability. In addition to teaching practical skills that make the girls more employable, they are also engaged in learning about gender identity, equality and empowerment.
Women’s Development in Bihar India
Through cooperation between various NGOs and the State of Bihar, women’s empowerment has had a measurable impact on the lives of women throughout one of Indias poorest states. While I was in Bihar State to photograph on behalf of PCI India, local state officials requested that I also capture images that demonstrated a range of sponsored programs to support womens career development, entrepreneurship and livelihood.
The women photographed in rural Bihar were engaged in a range of activities to improve their economic situation, including raising cattle, chickens, recycling, and milk collection. The result has been greater recognition and highlighted their value. Interestingly, in many cases, neither the women themselves nor their family consider many of these activities as “work” because farming is considered part of women’s domestic duties. Women also take care of children, cook and clean, and perform other crucial tasks fundamental for family well-being. With the assistance of these programs, some women have also begun to assume supervisory and managerial roles which are traditionally held only by men.
Bihari woman delivering milk to collection station to be weighed and analyzed for fat content. Photograph: ©Steven Wade Adams
Thanks to the state-sponsored program to promote advancement of woman, this woman has assumed a traditional male managerial role in rural Bihar. Photograph: ©Steven Wade Adams
Small business entrepreneur in Bihar caring for her chickens. Photograph: ©Steven Wade Adams