When I think back over this year, it seems an awful lot of bad stuff has happened. The Ebola crisis, the kidnapping of more than 200 girls in Chibok, Nigeria, and just last week a horrific terrorist attack against a school in Pakistan. But then I caught myself, and realised how many incredible things have happened too. Did you miss any? 

1. The world reached a tipping point in the fight against HIV/AIDS

This year new data emerged showing that - for the first time - more people were added to life-saving AIDS treatment than the number of people who became newly infected. If the world stays on track, we could end the disease in just 15 years. Is that not an amazing reason to celebrate?! 

2. Malala Yousafzai becomes the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

She accepted the award with a bold challenge to world leaders: “Let this be the last time that we see a child out of school.” If you feel like some kick-ass inspiration, you can watch the whole video here. 

3. 29 million children will get a good education, thanks to the UK

Every child should have the right to learn, but 57 million children worldwide still lack access to primary and early secondary education - a real outrage in 2014. Together with Plan UK and RESULTS UK we launched a global campaign, encouraging you to share what you achieved #BecauseOfSchool. And the result was phenomenal! 

Thousands upon thousands of people tweeted what they’d achieved in life thanks to their education, and lobbied the UK Minister responsible. You sent so many tweets that we got a complaint from the Minister’s office! 

The efforts paid off - in June, the UK government pledged £300 million to global education. That’ll go a very long way to giving every child access to school and as a result, march us towards a world without extreme poverty. Success!

4. THIS incredible story of progress

Of all the incredible things I’ve seen on the internet this year, this has to be the one that’s stuck with me the longest. This is Concillia. She is HIV positive, but antiretroviral (ARV) pills have transformed her life. 

Concillia says: “There was nothing I could do for myself. I could not feed myself properly. I could not look after my daughter. After I started medication it was like I was resurrected.” 

All the big statistics mean so much (see #1!) - but personal stories like this show that we really can end AIDS. You can read more of Concillia’s story in her own words here. 

5. The UK makes history with a monumental step to protect international aid

This is such a big deal. The UK spends 0.7% of its budget on aid, which saves a life every 2 minutes. At the beginning of December, a bill passed through parliament to enshrine this commitment into law. There is still one more hurdle to pass and that’s the House of Lords, but if it does go through (and we hope it does) then it will ensure that the UK will continue to transform the lives of those who need help the most. 

Your campaigning played a key role - you tweeted and emailed MPs in your hundreds, urging them to attend the debate and vote in favour. We won by an overwhelming 146-5 - and took an enormous step towards protecting aid for the foreseeable future!  

In a speech that went viral across the internet, Harry Potter star Emma Watson passionately proclaimed her reasons for being a feminist, and called upon men to join her. I reckon her most powerful words were “in my moments of doubt I’ve told myself firmly—if not me, who, if not now, when?”

In Ethiopia child marriage is common, with some girls married as young as 3-years-old. This year, British aid worked with more than 37,500 girls to give them the right to choose their own futures - and it’s working! Bayush (far left) was helped out of a child marriage, and now says “I dream about completing my education and becoming a doctor to help people.”

At the beginning of 2015, the world will come together to fund global vaccination initiatives like Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance. We wanted to make sure the UK led the way - and we did it! 

Your tweets and emails meant that the UK government pledged an incredible £1 billion to vaccinations - enough to prevent the deaths of 1.4 MILLION children. I can barely wrap my head around how amazing that is! 

This year our headlines were dominated by Ebola, and the devastating effects it had - and is still having - on the populations of affected countries in West Africa. This is Justine Greening (Development Secretary) and Will Pooley (the British nurse who survived Ebola and returned to West Africa to continue the fight) meeting with local health workers in Sierra Leone. UK Aid has deployed medical experts, built treatment centres, and committed to help nearly 8,800 patients over a 6 month period. How’s that for impact?!

I have to admit - I shed a little tear. 15-year-old Patrick, from Uganda, was born deaf and had never had a conversation. This video shows the life-changing moment that he finds his voice. Just wait for 3.13! 

11. The Live Below The Line challenge raises almost £1 million to end extreme poverty 

The thought of all that porridge still haunts me! In March we challenged the nation to live on just £1 a day for their food and drink for a week. Why, you ask? The challenge aims to raise awareness and vital funds to end extreme poverty worldwide. More than 6000 people rose to the challenge, raising almost £1 million for projects to end extreme poverty! 

(ps. Up for the challenge in 2015? You can pre-register your interest here.)

Only a few weeks ago, the world was shocked and saddened as a lone gunman took numerous people hostage in a Sydney café, and had his hostages display an extremist Islamic flag in the window. 

Shortly after the siege hit the news, a local resident witnessed a Muslim girl removing her hijab whilst sitting on a train. Another passenger ran after her, and said “put it back on, I’ll walk with you”. They hugged, the girl cried, and then she walked off alone. 

The action sparked a nationwide movement of Australians telling Muslims ‘#illridewithyou’, bringing unity, tolerance and love out of a horrific incident of terrorism. If this isn’t the perfect example of how to respond, I don’t know what is. 

Everyone remembers that original, epic Band Aid song. When a BBC journalist came through Hagere Selam, Ethiopia in 1984, he described it as “the closest thing to hell on earth”. Like plenty of Ethiopia at the time, the town was in the grip of a famine so severe that the local people were being buried in pits in large groups, having starved to death. The situation sparked an international response that included Bob Geldof and the famous Live Aid concerts, and the world sat up and took notice.

30 years on, what’s changed? An awful lot, it turns out. The town now has clean water, a medical centre, plentiful supply of food, and 93% of the kids are in school.

Local grandfather Gebreslsie Hadera summed it up when interviewed by a Guardian journalist this year: “It’s difficult to speak about that time. I saw people dying. So many people, so many animals were dead. There was nothing to eat, so people had to eat bones. There was no peace, but now there is peace. Now you can work and eat.”

14. Finally, a Happy Christmas for 10-year-old Esther, who survived Ebola

Esther, a 10-year-old girl from West Point, a slum in Monrovia, contracted Ebola but survived. She is looking forward to a bright future at the More Than Me Academy, the country’s first and only fee-free school for girls!