Our work

A refurbished library is a small intervention with a long tail.

It serves every pupil in the school, every year, for as long as it is maintained — which makes it one of the most cost-efficient literacy interventions available, and one that scales school by school.

The case for action

Where classrooms are full, the missing piece is not enrolment.

Nigeria is in the midst of what UNESCO has described as a learning crisis: most children at age ten cannot read and understand an age-appropriate text.

A 2024 UNICEF assessment found that only 26% of Nigerian children and adolescents aged 7 to 14 possess basic reading and mathematics skills. Nationally, more than 18 million children aged 5 to 14 are out of school, and Nigeria accounts for over 20% of the world's out-of-school children.

We begin in Lagos, because Lagos makes the case with unusual clarity. Enrolment there is comparatively strong — UNICEF data indicates out-of-school rates in Lagos of roughly 3% at primary level and 4% at junior secondary, far below national figures, and Lagos leads the country in secondary enrolment with over 1.2 million students. The children are already in the classroom. What they lack is behind it.

Nigeria's education budget has hovered at roughly 5–8% of total government spending, well below the 15–20% UNESCO recommends, and school libraries are among the first things to disappear when budgets are stretched. Enrolment programmes will not close this gap. Reading resources will. Lagos is where we prove the model; Nigeria is where we take it.

Figures drawn from UNESCO, UNICEF and published Nigerian education statistics.

The programme

The five-part refurbishment package

Each school library we take on receives a complete refurbishment rather than a partial donation. Our standard intervention has five components.

  1. Component 01

    The space

    A room fit to read in.

    Repair and preparation of the room — flooring, ceiling, windows, lighting, ventilation, security and, where required, basic electrical work.

  2. Component 02

    The furniture

    Built locally, repairable locally.

    Shelving, reading tables, chairs and storage, sourced and built locally wherever possible to support the local economy and simplify repair.

  3. Component 03

    The collection

    Books children want to read.

    Age-appropriate books selected with the school, weighted towards Nigerian and African authors alongside international titles, plus reference and curriculum-support material.

  4. Component 04

    The systems

    A catalogue the school can keep.

    A simple catalogue, a borrowing and returns process, labelling, and a record-keeping method the school can maintain without specialist software.

  5. Component 05

    The people

    A trained adult, and time to read.

    Training for the teacher or staff member responsible for the library, guidance on timetabling reading periods, and a follow-up visit schedule.

The collection

What we actually put on the shelves.

Weighted towards Nigerian and African authors alongside international titles — including work in Yorùbá, Igbo and Hausa, because a child should be able to find their own language on a shelf. Final selections are made with each school's teachers.

First readers

  • Anna Hibiscus — Atinuke
  • The No. 1 Car Spotter — Atinuke
  • Africa, Amazing Africa — Atinuke
  • A is for Africa — Ifeoma Onyefulu
  • Chidi Only Likes Blue — Ifeoma Onyefulu
  • Ikenna Goes to Nigeria — Ifeoma Onyefulu
  • Chike and the River — Chinua Achebe
  • The Drummer Boy — Cyprian Ekwensi
  • Sugar Girl — Kola Onadipe
  • Eze Goes to School — Onuora Nzekwu

Confident readers

  • An African Night's Entertainment — Cyprian Ekwensi
  • The Passport of Mallam Ilia — Cyprian Ekwensi
  • Without a Silver Spoon — Eddie Iroh
  • The Bottled Leopard — Chukwuemeka Ike
  • Weep Not, Child — Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
  • The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind — William Kamkwamba
  • Akissi — Marguerite Abouet
  • Ògbójú Ọdẹ Nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ̀ — D. O. FágúnwàYorùbá
  • Omenuko — Pita NwanaIgbo

Older pupils and reference

  • Ìrèké Oníbùdó — D. O. FágúnwàYorùbá
  • Shaihu Umar — Abubakar Tafawa BalewaHausa
  • Things Fall Apart — Chinua Achebe
  • Purple Hibiscus — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Half of a Yellow Sun — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • The Famished Road — Ben Okri
  • Aké: The Years of Childhood — Wole Soyinka
  • Efuru — Flora Nwapa
  • The Joys of Motherhood — Buchi Emecheta
  • Second Class Citizen — Buchi Emecheta
  • The Concubine — Elechi Amadi
  • Sozaboy — Ken Saro-Wiwa
  • Stay With Me — Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
  • So Long a Letter — Mariama Bâ
  • Nervous Conditions — Tsitsi Dangarembga
  • Mine Boy — Peter Abrahams
  • Long Walk to Freedom — Nelson Mandela

How we work in Nigeria

No local entity. By design.

It keeps our governance, our accounting and our accountability in one jurisdiction, and puts delivery in the hands of people who live and work in the communities we serve.

  1. Step 01

    We vet a local partner

    An established organisation, contractor or school network with a verifiable track record in the community we are serving.

  2. Step 02

    We sign a written agreement

    Setting out the scope of work, the standards to be met, the reporting required, and the conditions under which funds are released.

  3. Step 03

    Funds move in stages

    Transferred against agreed milestones, never as a single lump sum.

  4. Step 04

    Evidence comes back at every stage

    Receipts, photographic records, inventory and progress reports from our partner.

  5. Step 05

    We verify

    Remotely as standard, and in person for a sample of projects.

  6. Step 06

    The decision stays with our board

    We retain authority over how our resources are used at every point.

Theory of change

From a room to a reading habit.

  1. We invest in

    • Refurbished rooms
    • Furniture and shelving
    • Curated book stock
    • Trained library staff
    • Simple lending systems

  2. Which produces

    • Functioning, open libraries
    • Books children want to read
    • Scheduled reading periods
    • A responsible adult in place

  3. Which leads to

    • More books borrowed
    • More time spent reading
    • Reading habits formed
    • Teachers using the library in lessons

  4. Resulting in

    • Improved reading fluency and comprehension
    • Stronger academic outcomes
    • A resource the school sustains itself

What we measure

Whether children are reading more — not how many books we delivered.

Reach
Libraries refurbished; pupils with access; schools served.
Usage
Books borrowed per pupil per term; library visits per week; reading periods timetabled.
Learning
Reading fluency and comprehension assessed at baseline and at follow-up intervals.
Equity
Participation disaggregated by gender, with specific attention to girls' access and usage.
Durability
Proportion of libraries still open, stocked and staffed at 12 and 24 months.
Stewardship
Cost per pupil reached; proportion of expenditure reaching programme delivery.

Our libraries

Every library, named — with what changed.

This is our transparency wall. Each school appears with its name, its location, its photographs, what we did and one specific result. It grows one school at a time.

First cohort in progress

Nothing here yet — and we will not put anything here until it is true.

We are selecting our first schools in Lagos. When the first library opens, its record appears on this wall: the school's name, what we did, what it cost, and what changed for the pupils in it. If you are reading this page in a year and it is still empty, that will tell you something too.

Fund the first libraryApply for a library