2016 saw the close-out of the Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development (LEAD) project, a partnership with USAID and Research Triangle International (RTI) to improve quality of governance at the local level in Rivers State. One of the major achievements from LEAD’s two-year run was the collaboration between local government officials and community members in all six participating local government areas to create service improvement plans for public service delivery. LEAD also helped its six participating local government councils increase funding towards improving water and sanitation and reducing open defecation.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) financial management standards local government officials were trained on has now been adopted by the Rivers State Government as the standard for public accounting in the state. Also as a result of this program, six local civil society organizations led 55 interventions in local communities to help raise awareness on the need for increased government accountability and its link to effective public service delivery.