This report presents an evaluation of our northeast Nigeria program between 2017 and 2025. The program is on standby as of June 2025 due to budget constraints and the global downscaling of humanitarian efforts. This assessment examines eight years of efforts to bridge communication gaps and improve language access for marginalized communities in one of the world’s most complex humanitarian contexts.
The evaluation reveals significant achievements in advancing linguistic inclusion across the humanitarian response. Key findings show that CLEAR Global expanded language services beyond Hausa to include nine additional local languages, increasing the proportion of affected people who could receive information in their primary language from 31% to 83%. The report documents high satisfaction rates among humanitarian partners (88.5%) and confirms a sustained shift toward greater linguistic inclusivity that continues even after the program’s transition to remote support.
However, the evaluation also highlights ongoing challenges, including the difficulty of measuring direct community impact, the limitations of written translations in low-literacy contexts, and the sustainability concerns around language technology initiatives. These honest insights offer valuable lessons for humanitarian actors working to implement language-informed approaches in similar settings.
The report illustrates that while achieving meaningful language access requires sustained investment and local partnerships, the impact on humanitarian effectiveness and community trust can be transformative.
Download the full report here.