Telling Our Story Home » Submit a story » Calendars » FAQs » About » Stories by Region Asia » Europe & and Eurasia » Latin America & the Carribean » Middle East » Sub-Saharan Africa »

Submit a Story

USAID uses your stories and photographs to educate the public about our programs, explain how U.S. development assistance works, and demonstrate the impact USAID has on people's lives around the world. We want to convey information that the everyday reader will care about and understand.

By documenting our work to empower our recipients to help themselves, we provide clarity and transparency to our work.

To tell a compelling story, you should:

• Report on real results at the individual level.
• Tell our story about how US aid empowers people to lead a better life for themselves and their families.
• Indicate success through direct quotes from the beneficiaries themselves.
• Connect the micro-level success documented in the stories to the overall macro-level efforts of the project or program delivering the assistance.
• Illustrate the success through dynamic, candid photos of the beneficiaries in action

  To submit a story, first review the Guidelines and Prep Sheets, and then choose one of the following formats below. After you submit your story, you should see a confirmation page indicating that your story was received. if you do not see a confirmation page, please verify that your submission:

  • Does not use any special characters (such as accents) in any field.
  • Does not exceed the maximum length.
  • Includes a photo attachment in JPG format.

  Success Story
  Provides a detailed overview of a program and how it has benefited others, illustrated by a powerful photograph.

  Case Study
  Describes a challenge, initiative, and results with a photograph and three 100-150 word paragraphs.

  First Person
  Focuses on one person who benefited from a USAID program or worked with USAID to create change in the community, including a background paragraph and quotes from and a picture of the subject.

  Before and After
  Uses two photographs to show the difference in a situation between two moments of time to vividly illustrate how a USAID program made an impact, accompanied by an introduction and detailed captions.

  Photo and Caption
  Uses a powerful photo and succinct caption to illustrate how USAID is making a difference, along with two or three paragraphs of text to provide background.

  Best Practice
  USAID wants to capture our best practices in photos and videos, so that we can share these with others within the agency, and in the international development community. We want to convey information that the everyday reader can care about and understand.

  Video and Story
  USAID needs your stories to educate the public about our programs, explain how U.S. development assistance works, and demonstrate the impact USAID has on peoples' lives around the world. In particular, video can bring a story to life so that we convey information that the everyday reader can care about and understand.

  Back to Top ^