Venezuelan photographer Silvana Trevale spent a week in Paparo and Caracas with 16-year-old student Katty Reyes, whom she has known for years. Silvana hoped her photographs — captured on an outing to a local beach — would exude Katty’s promise and strength, and shine light on how Venezuela’s economic crisis has affected its young people.

Through captions to Silvana’s photographs, Katty wrote a piece for Assembly explaining how national issues like food and gas shortages, unclean water and power outages are impacting her studies and what she hopes will change in her country.

Guinean photographer Hady Barry photographed 13-year-old Aïssatou Lamarana Diallo during her first few days of secondary school in Tolo, a rural village in Guinea. For Hady, whose father grew up in the village, the project was an opportunity to let Aïssatou tell her own story. Hady gave Aïssatou a Polaroid camera to carry to and from school for three months, documenting life as it happened around her.

In her piece for Assembly, Aïssatou shares a series of Polaroids capturing details of her life at home — from her mother’s provisions shop to her family cow, Arsiqué. Aïssatou captioned the photo above: “This is my bedroom where I sleep with my mother. I liked my bags and my mother under the light of the moon.”

Lina Geoushy, a photographer from Egypt, focused her commission on 20-year-old footballer Rooka Saeed and 20-year old Olympic gymnast Malak Hamza, who are challenging gender norms in their hometowns in Egypt. “Athletes, especially talented female athletes, deserve to get the support and recognition that their male peers receive,” says Lina. She wanted her work with Malak and Rooka to showcase the different and complex realities female athletes in Egypt experience.

For their Assembly pieces Malak shared a photo essay about training for the Olympic games and finding her way in the gym, and Rooka wrote about challenging stereotypes as a female football player in Egypt.