Project
Strengthened Leaders, Aware Citizens (SLAC): Advancing Local Governance in Kano State
The Strengthened Leaders, Aware Citizens (SLAC) project is a civic governance initiative focused on strengthening local government performance and empowering citizens through digital innovation, leadership development, and inclusive civic engagement. The project is implemented across five Local Government Areas in Kano State Gwale, Kano Municipal, Wudil, Bichi, and Ungogo. To date, SLAC has successfully conducted a baseline survey across the five LGAs to assess governance capacity gaps and institutional needs. This was followed by targeted capacity-building programs for local government officials and community leaders, focusing on digital literacy, financial accountability, participatory governance, and effective service delivery.
Building on these efforts, SLAC has now developed a digital governance dashboard and trained stakeholders on its purpose and functionality. The dashboard is designed to enhance transparency, improve data-driven decision-making, and strengthen citizen engagement by centralizing governance data, performance tracking, and feedback mechanisms. On 15th May 2025, SLAC also convened a Stakeholder Engagement Meeting, bringing together 89 participants from the five LGAs. The engagement provided a platform to validate findings from the baseline survey, discuss governance challenges, and strengthen collaboration among local authorities, civil society, and community actors.
What’s Next
The next phase of SLAC focuses on hands-on, LGA-level dashboard deployment. The project team will move to each Local Government Area to: Train officials and relevant stakeholders on practical use of the dashboard Support LGAs in adopting the tool for daily governance processes Strengthen data reporting, transparency, and citizen engagement at the local level Through this phase, SLAC aims to ensure that digital tools are not only introduced but fully integrated into local governance systems, contributing to more responsive, accountable, and people-centered governance in Kano State.