The first edition of photographs about the life and development of territorial communities that have gone through different stages of the decentralization reform from 2016 to 2025 together with the USAID DOBRE Program. “Faces of the Communities” is the history of Ukraine’s communities in photographs. A story about people who have united to change their towns and villages for the better, resisting and bravely accepting the challenges of war. The photos show how communities took their first steps after amalgamation, how they found opportunities for development, strengthened their local economies, improved services, engaged people, and rebuilt their lives destroyed by the terrible war.

The pictures show famous and unknown landscapes of Ukraine, different people developing their communities, and their achievements implemented under the reform of local self-government and territorial organization of power together with partners.

The photos in this book are just a part of large-scale photo expeditions to 65 communities in ten oblasts of Ukraine taken by Ukraine Crisis Media Center. For seven years, Ukraine Crisis Media Center has been organizing these photo expeditions with the reliable support of the USAID DOBRE Program.