BEST IN SHOW (photo by Ami Vitale) Umou, 16, puts on her best clothes and lipstick for a baby naming ceremony in a small village in the Kalalé District of Benin. She is one of the few girls who goes to school past a young age. The economy is mainly based on agriculture with more than 95% of the population involved with farming. Despite its great potential, crop production in Kalalé remains weak and easily influenced by natural conditions. There is precious little rainfall during the six-month dry season that runs from November to April each year. During the dry season, the land of Kalalé is parched and its people are hungry. Malnutrition is widespread and most girls won't get access to education because the most pressing challenge for all the people of Kalalé is having enough food to eat.
(Photo by Ami Vitale) Naitemu Letur pushes a jug of water back to her manyatta. "Before, we would walk for hours every day just to get water. Sometimes it was not safe but now we have plenty of water near our homes and this has made our lives more secure. " Rather than something that has to be guarded from local communities, the environment becomes a source of sustainable economic activity for those communities. Traditionally, women like Letur, who is a Maa-speaking Samburu were pastoralists, whose livelihoods have traditionally been rooted in semi nomadic cattle, goat and sheep farming across the rangelands of northern Kenya. But as changing times bring increased pressure on natural resources, grazing cattle has become a volatile livelihood, as unpredictable drought and competition with protected wildlife for grazing becomes more frequent. Now she is able to sell her livestock to a market created by Northern Rangelands Trust.
(photo by Amy Toensing) A young woman, rejected by her family for leaving her husband, lives in a group home for at-risk women in Vrindavan, India. Cultural stigmas in India make it very difficult for a woman to be without a man.
(Photo by Amy Toensing) A Congolese refugee woman and her baby narrowly escaped a militia burning them alive in their home during a raid on their village. Today, she lives in hiding and in poverty in an urban slum in Nairobi - half of Africa’s refugees now live in urban areas instead of traditional camps.
(photo by Dana Rene) Elena Giron, 72, in her home in Meanguera, in the Morazán department of El Salvador, lives alone after many years with her family. "I used to have a house full of grand children, now they are grown and live somewhere else. It's very quiet here now".
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Jung Ha-yoon, 2, appears to be stuck inside a ceramic container traditionally used to ferment Kimchi, while playing with other children at the traditional sports square during the "Taste Korea! Korean Royal Cuisine Festival" held at Unhyeon Palace, also known as Unhyeongung Royal Residence, in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday, Oct. 1 2013.
(Photo by Fatimah Waseem) On the morning of Jan. 23, 2012, Mamata Abdou, 19, made a spontaneous decision: she would wear niqab, an optional face veil worn by Muslim women. What began as a dare by a friend now informs her daily lifestyle.
(Photo by Gabriella Demczuk) Young girls walk home from school in Zanzibar, Tanzania. More girls attend school in Zanzibar than ever before, a push by the government to grow the economy and reduce the rate of poverty.
(Gabriella Demczuk, The New York Times) Liz Marquez, 9, from Md., calls for immigration reform during the annual Capitol Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the West Lawn of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. An increase in immigrant deportations have left thousands of families separated across the United States.
(Photo by Michelle Frankfurter) A Guatemalan migrant holds her 6-month-old infant son while waiting to board a northbound cargo train in the railhead town of Arriaga in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
(Photo by Michelle Frankfurter) Central American migrants scramble to board a cargo train in the railhead town of Arriaga in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
(Katherine Frey, The Washington Post) Regina Best, 40, of Dallas, TX, an Air Force Veteran who was homeless until a month ago, gives instruction to Noel Williams on the Habitat for Humanity "Veterans Build" project on the National Mall Wednesday June 5, 2013 in Washington, DC. Best, formerly a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity who now works with AmeriCorps helped frame seven houses on the mall representing each branch of the military, the guard and reserves and national service programs that will be donated and resurrected in the D.C. area.
(Photo by Lexey Swall) Barbara Amaya, 58, waited 40 years before telling the story of how she was sexually trafficked for nine years in New York City. Now, the Arlington, Virginia, resident works as an advocate against human trafficking.
(Melina Mara, The Washington Post) Two mothers, Diana Aguilar (who lost Aliyah Shell in a drive by shooting), left, and Tanya Burch (who lost Deontae Smith in a drive by shooting) both in Chicago, join with other mothers, fathers, siblings and friends to mark nine months since the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, to advocate for reducing gun violence, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday September 18, 2013. Behind the families who lost loved ones to gun violence are from left, Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
(Amanda Voisard, for The Washington Post ) Kodie Brown plays at the local playground, near RFK Stadium. Kodie's mother was fatally shot by her father while trying to escape onto a Metro bus. Kodie, who was grazed by a bullet in the attack, needs several operations to remove more facial scar tissue. “No baby should have to go through what she has gone through,” said Deborah Alessi, who has helped set up a foundation that pays for victims of domestic violence to have plastic surgery.
(Amanda Voisard, for The Washington Post) Melissa Morales rests in the back of the car while waiting to hear if her family would be given emergency shelter at the Motel 6 in place of DC family shelters on Tuesday, January 21, 2014 in Washington, D.C. Morales and her family were among the dozens of families lined up at the city’s homeless intake center Monday seeking shelter for the night from the accumulating snow and freezing weather.
(Nikki Kahn, The Washington Post) A combination of daughter, nurse and nanny, Barbara Tucker Parker guides her mother Dorothy Tucker, 88, through a world she can no longer navigate alone in University Park, Maryland, on Monday, February 17, 2014.
(Photo by Nikki Kahn) Speculation swirls about whether Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, celebrating her 20th anniversary on the bench, will retire giving President Obama a chance to choose her successor.
(Photo by Maria Bryk) A queer woman receives a straight razor haircut at a barbershop in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Although she was the first woman to ask for this more masculine cut, she has become a regular among the predominantly male clientele.
(Photo by Lauren Schneiderman) Angela and Crystal Jarrell prep JayCee, 3, for the Coal Festival beauty pageant. The annual Coal Festival celebrates the history and heritage of coal mining in southern West Virginia.
(Photo by Kate Warren) After shaving her head during chemotherapy for a rare form of uterine cancer, Tara Papanicolas decided to live with her bald head instead of bending to societal pressures to wear a wig. With a background in styling, Papanicolas is using her striking new look to raise awareness about the disease.