PHOTOS: The Face of the Working Poor

Who are the billions of people who make a living in the informal sector, usually with little or no access to the financial services that fuel so many businesses in the global economy? Each year, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) hosts a photo contest to raise awareness about the importance of increased access to financial services, while putting a face on the struggles, resilience and dignity of low-income entrepreneurs. This year, professional and amateur photographers submitted nearly 5,000 entries from 95 countries, a record for CGAP’s contest, which is in its ninth year.

This year’s winning entry, entitled “Cormorant Fishing”, was taken by Soh Yew Kiat from Malaysia. It shows a fisherman on a bamboo raft in China practicing the ancient but vanishing art of using trained birds to capture live fish. Cormorant fisherman, 46-year-old Huang Riu Qi, told the photographer that this style of fishing had been in his family for generations. After he could no longer make a living from the dwindling fish supplies in the Li River, he started demonstrating his craft to tourists.

A man demonstrates cormorant fishing

The three judges commented on the evocative, poetic mood created in the black and white photograph. “The photo captured a timeless image, paired with a modern story,” explained Meghan Dhaliwal, Multimedia Projects Coordinator for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. “It’s mythical-looking, and his clothes mirror the shape created by the wings of the bird,” she added.

Second prize in this year’s contest is a photo entitled “Gramaphone Repair” by Turkish photographer Bulent Suberk. The photo, taken in a bazaar in Istanbul, captures a gramophone repair worker who followed in his father’s footsteps in the profession. Third prize was a dynamic picture entitled “Smallholder”, taken by Hailey Tucker. The woman, called Anjelica, is working on a farm in Ndiwili , Tanzania. The farm partners with One Acre Fund, a social enterprise organization working East Africa that supplies smallholder farmers with financing and training that helps communities grow their way out of poverty and hunger.

A man surrounded by gramaphones works in a shop

“You can tell that the woman in the photo has a tough life, but she is at that moment, completely in control,” said judge Jeanette Ortiz-Osorio, Manager of Photo and Digital Assets for the American Red Cross.

A farmer tends a field in Tanzania

The People’s Choice winner: “Golden Dusk,” was submitted by Vishal Singh, of India and shows a boatman leading a sightseeing tour at Konark beach in Odisha, India. The photo received 11,393 votes.

A boatman provides sightseeing to the tourists who come to visit Konark Beach in Odisha

A full gallery of the 30 winning photos, including regional winners as well as those who received special mention from the judges, can be viewed at www.cgap.org/photocontest.