Location: Togo
Pillars of Potential: Health, Education, and Immunisation in Togo with UNICEF
The Challenge
UNICEF’s mission in Togo is a massive, multi-faceted effort to strengthen the foundational systems that allow a child to thrive. The primary challenge of this assignment was to document three distinct yet overlapping pillars: Maternal and Child Health, National Immunisation Campaigns, and Quality Education. My task was to provide a cohesive visual narrative that demonstrated the logistical precision of these programmes while maintaining a focus on the human dignity of the families receiving care. I needed to show how high-level international support translates into a cold-chain vaccine reaching a remote village or a child receiving their first textbook.
The Approach
I adopted a "ground-level" documentary perspective, traveling to rural and peri-urban communities to capture the front lines of development. For the health and immunisation sectors, I focused on the vital interactions between healthcare workers and mothers, highlighting the trust and care involved in life-saving vaccinations and neonatal check-ups. In the education sector, I prioritised the energy of the classroom, documenting new infrastructure and learning materials in a way that celebrated the curiosity of the students. By utilizing my signature atmospheric lighting and natural compositions, I aimed to move away from the "victimhood" tropes often seen in humanitarian media, instead presenting the people of Togo as active, empowered participants in their country’s progress.
The Impact
This body of work provided UNICEF Togo with a versatile asset library for their annual reporting, donor advocacy, and social media engagement. By humanising the technical milestones of immunisation rates and school enrolment figures, the imagery provides a powerful "visual truth" that supports UNICEF’s continued presence in the region. These stories serve as evidence of the tangible returns on investment in human capital, illustrating how targeted interventions in health and schooling are building a more resilient future for Togo’s next generation.
