Who are the real drivers of progress in the developing world?

I can tell you one thing—it’s not us.

But most international development organizations will not tell you that. Some will portray those they are trying to help by victimizing them, i.e. “look at these poor, suffering, devastated people.” Others will romanticize the poor, i.e. “despite having nothing, they are so happy” or “an entrepreneurial spirit is what keeps the poor alive.”

These reductionist perspectives may momentarily make us feel something, but without enabling the empathic concern to take the next step, they easily can do more harm than good. Many of my fellow aid bloggers have written over the years about the stark contrast between what their organizations have in their marketing campaigns and the complex reality of programs on the ground.

Aid need not be seen as the solution, but rather as one of many tools for those at the forefront of change to use. So we asked here on Oxfam America’s Aid Effectiveness and Creative teams, what would our depiction of effective aid look like then?

This week we embark on an effort to show what we mean to policy makers in Washington D.C. In DC’s airports, metro stations and publications, ads superimpose DC-insider buzzwords such as “job creator” and “beltway outsider” with decidedly non-DC imagery—people surrounded by fishing boats in Ghana, a plant nursery in Tanzania, a roadway in Malawi.

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Photo: Brett Eloff/Oxfam America

Note: This post kicks off a new blog series for 2013 on the transformative power of photography. Each week we will highlight one outstanding Oxfam photo and share more information about the story behind the image. Your feedback and suggestions are welcome!

As the director of the Malawi Health Equity Network, Martha Kwaitane is leveraging a tiny investment of US foreign aid to improve rural people’s access to quality healthcare throughout Malawi.

If you live in Washington, DC, or visit in the city in the coming weeks, you might spot Brett Eloff’s portrait of Kwaitane, above, in the airport or on the Metro. She’s one of four inspiring leaders featured on a brand-new series of Oxfam billboards, which call on US legislators not to cut the global poverty-fighting assistance that helps people like Kwaitane transform their countries.

Read more about Martha Kwaitane and the billboards here.