COAL Newsletter, December 2025
The year we worked into
Hello,
2025 was not an easy year to be a child in Nigeria. Insecurity, displacement, and school closures made learning unsafe for many, with over 300 children and teachers abducted nationwide. Two out of every three children in Nigeria live in multidimensional poverty; more than half experience some form of violence before age 18, and two in five girls are married before age 18. Amidst the uncertainty, you stayed with us, and that choice mattered more than you may realise.
How your support showed up
In small classrooms and community spaces across Plateau State, learning continued because changemakers at the grassroots refused to let insecurity silence hope. Through the Grassroots Accelerated Education Fund (GAEF), COAL worked alongside local educators in four communities in Bassa, Jos-north and Jos-south LGAs of Plateau State.
Together with Claire Aid Foundation, Uplifting our Children through Support and Patris Empowerment Initiative, we:
- Supported 194 young learners in low-resource communities
- Transitioned 10 children to mainstream schools
- Trained 38 teachers in public and private schools
- Increased literacy by 52% and numeracy up by 40%.
Children who had fallen behind are beginning to read again and solve basic maths problems, slowly at first, then with growing confidence.
Creative spaces for social change
For many young people, our open mics became creative hubs for growth, connection and community regardless of tribe, religion or creed. Across visual, performing, and literary arts, confidence grew, skills sharpened and community deepened. With your support in 2025:
- 208 people signed up (45% increase from 2024), and 176 young people showed up
- 54 performers, mostly young people aged 18–24 took the mic
- 80 women participated (264% increase from 2024)
- 60% rated our Open Mics “good” & “excellent”
Poems, stories, paintings, illustrations, and civic discussions stirred conversations about grief, faith, entrepreneurship, mental health and coexistence, reminding us that art is not just about expression, it is how we make sense of the world.
Art in public health awareness campaign
Beyond Plateau State, your support helped stories travel further.
Through the Art for Life Campaign, we worked with partners: Avoidable Deaths Network at University of Leicester and SEVHAGE Literary and Development Initiative, to publish Held Too Briefly, a digital anthology sharing creative responses to public health crises in sub-saharan Africa.
With over 100 submissions from across sub-Saharan Africa, the collection includes poetry, flash fiction, and visual art to centre the human stories behind drowning, maternal mortality, silicosis, and snakebite. Young artists were not only heard, they were also supported with ₦1 million worth of prizes disbursed to support their art.
Conversations that linger
We also gathered around books and ideas. Our conversation with writer and performance poet David Onotu opened space for reflection, questions, and shared experience, reminding us that literature is not distant from life. It is part of how we understand it. Thanks to everyone who patronised the COAL literature store in 2025, we saw more books travel to hands and homes across Nigeria, with the top three locations of sales being Jos (63%), Lagos (22%) and Abuja (10%).
As we look toward 2026, we want to keep these spaces open: classrooms where learning continues, stages where young voices are heard, and communities where creativity meets real need. We need you to make 2026 a better year for learning and creativity to thrive and can’t wait to embark on the journey ahead!
In the meantime, we wish you a peaceful Christmas and a fulfilling new year!
With gratitude, From all of us at COAL