The People in the Pictures: Vital perspectives on Save the Children’s image making

Debates about representations of global poverty and images of suffering have been going on for many years, yet the voices of the people featured in the images – the contributors – have been notably absent. There has been a tendency to consider and judge the image alone, rather than recognise it as the result of a process involving multiple stakeholders, one of whom is the person in the image.

In late 2014, Save the Children embarked on a four-country (UK, Jordan, Bangladesh, and Niger) research project to listen to and learn from those who contribute their images and stories (contributors), as well as members of their communities and Save the Children staff. The experiences and perspectives of contributors, included in this study, provide a much-needed input to discussions on representations of global poverty and INGO communications.