Rivers State is disadvantaged relative to national or even South-South welfare indicators. For instance, with reference to unemployment and underemployment rates, access to safe water, conditions were worse (as at 2006) in Rivers State than for the nation as-a-whole. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, while the unemployment rate for the nation as-a-whole and the South-South stood at 5.3% and 8% respectively, the figure for Rivers State was 11%. The Economic and Infrastructure Development Plan addresses identified challenges, in line with the targets set in the MDGs, especially to reduce poverty through job creation and infrastructure provision.

Proposals (including budgetary allocations) have been made in this sector to cover Minor Rural Infrastructure (Feeder Roads, Canals, Rural Environmental Protection & Conservation, and Water Projects); Employment Generation; MSMEs; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); and Slum and Squatter Settlement Upgrading.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development and Employment Generation
The goal of this sub-sector is to promote a viable and dynamic MSME sector. The thrust shall be to enhance employment generation and poverty reduction through production and distribution of goods and services by MSME operators in Rivers State, to satisfy domestic and international market demand.
An integrated MSME development strategy is proposed, characterised by:        

1. Development of identified agricultural, industrial and service enterprises, which have competitive advantage for MSME  development in particular rural parts of the state; and
2. Provision of specific guidelines and incentives through appropriate policy and legislation. 

The plan proposes intensive skill acquisition strategies to equip youths with the know-how to take advantage of job openings and to become gainfully self-employed.

Information and Communication Technology
In order to ensure that the rural sector joins the ICT revolution (which will trigger dramatic transformation of the rural economy), this plan proposes programmes and projects, such as:

1. The establishment of local digital centres ;  
2. Introduction of compulsory computer literacy education at the primary and secondary school levels.

Slum and Squatter Settlement Upgrading
Squatter settlements result from rapid urbanization, especially when urban dwellers are unable to secure legitimate accommodation in the formal housing sector.  In Rivers State, such settlements occur around emerging developing centres like Port Harcourt and Bonny. In Port Harcourt, there are about 49 squatter settlements, such settlements are characterised by deplorable infrastructure and environmental conditions. Slums (e.g., Diobu in Port Harcourt) are similar to squatter settlements in terms of the degradation; however, the key difference is that slum dwellers, who traditionally inhabit the older parts of the city, enjoy legal tenure, as opposed to the illegality of squatter habitation. Addressing the issue of slums and squatters has been a persistent problem for the Rivers State Government since the early 1970s.This plan proposes to liaise with relevant government agencies, international development organizations and other stakeholders to make a tangible positive impact in this area.

The table below summarises financial outlays for Economic and Infrastructure Development activities throughout the 15-year plan period.

The state of Human Capital Development (Education, Health, Skills Development, Leadership and Re-orientation) is far from satisfactory in Rivers State. This has affected the ability of Rivers people to benefit from vast economic opportunities within the state. This plan identifies the human development gaps and proposes measures to address the shortcomings.

Education 
In Rivers State, there is a deplorable condition of educational facilities, personnel, student and public stakeholder commitment, especially in the rural areas due partly to various constraints associated in providing relevant support to remote areas. Additionally, acute poverty levels compel young females into early marriage thereby compromising girl-child education.
In spite of substantive interventions in the educational sector by the Federal and State Government, oil companies and international development agencies, the quality of education in Rivers State has remained low. Blame for the low quality of education is laid at every doorstep - government’s failure to adequately fund the education sector and parents’, teachers, and oil companies have also contributed adversely to educational development. The plan proposes to make significant interventions in the rural areas by improving the state of educational facilities, personnel and increasing stakeholder participation in the educational development to the extent that there will be a considerable migration of scholars from the urban schools to the rural schools, because of the improved quality of rural schools by 2012.

Health
The Health sector often receives profound mention in development discourse.  The United Nations Organization recommends that at least 20% of a country’s budget should be devoted to the health sector. This requirement practically demonstrates the pivotal place of health care delivery in the development process. However, studies show that from 1999 to 2007, the Rivers State Government‘s yearly allocation to the health sector averaged only 2.2%. The state has, in line with the national policy on health, adopted a 3-tier structure in the delivery of medical care to the people. Thus, there are presently 354 health centres, 34 General Hospitals, 5 Cottage hospitals, 1 neuro-psychiatric   hospital, 1 dental centre and 1 Teaching Hospital. These are structured into primary, secondary and tertiary facilities, which offer different levels of care.  Despite the availability of these facilities, the sector is beset with problems of quality service delivery, particularly in the rural areas.
To address current inadequacies in, especially primary health care services in the state, the plan proposes an intervention programme that emphasizes:

• Community participation in the management of Community Health Centres (CHCs);
• The re-introduction of Community Health Extension Workers (CHEW) and Environmental Health Officers (EVRHO) into community homes and streets;
• Revival of the under five well baby clinics;
• Equipping of community maternity units;
• Introduction of community health insurance;
• Strengthening the almost Monitoring and evaluation through the use of well designed tool and continuously building the capacity of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) officers;
• RSSDA shall in partnership with the private sector consider the introduction of community health insurance targeted at children under-five years of age and the poorest of the poor. Also, the well children clinic for children under five years of age will be revived, while the infant welfare clinic will be strengthened; and
• RSSDA will diligently source for donors/ partners (e.g. RVSG, NDDC) to handle capital-intensive projects like electricity, communication and ambulance services.

Leadership and Value Re-orientation
Leadership and values are critical to economic, social and political development. Poor leadership and misplaced social values have contributed to the poor state of development in Nigeria. In Rivers State, these   have led to wasteful use of abundant resources and loss of development opportunities. To evolve a transformational as opposed to transactional leadership in the state, the plan proposes as follows:

• RSSDA support for the publication of monthly statutory financial allocations to the State and the Local Government Councils;
• RSSDA support for quarterly review of LGA performance in core human development activities such as the provision of water, health, sanitation and education.
• At the informal level, the plan articulates a consistent policy of support by RSSDA for leadership character building voluntary organisations such as the Boys Scout and Girls Guard Movements, Leadership Training Centres (Man ’O’ War), Red Cross; Red Crescent to establish outreach clubs with schools in the rural areas of Rivers State. Free uniforms and accessories, including support for camping exercises in rural areas of Rivers State will be some of the incentives to encourage rural youth’s membership in these voluntary organizations.
• As incentive for the emergence of viable leadership, RSSDA shall advocate the devolution of bursary and scholarship processes to the local government areas as a way of enhancing access and creating opportunity for the youths who are the future leaders of the state.
• Also, RSSDA shall advocate the extension of scholarship and bursary opportunities to students and pupils in rural primary and secondary schools that excel in external examinations.
• Support gender sensitization at the communal and LG councils.

The table below is the summary of the human capital development activities and financial outlay for the 15 year plan period.

Development in Rivers State has largely been undertaken without consideration for the social and institutional context of rural communities and development implementing organisations. There are peculiar contextual constraints in communities and organizations who benefit from or facilitate development processes, which often contribute to the failure to achieve sustainability of interventions. The Plan design’s Terms of Reference (TOR) identifies Community Relations, Development Interfaces, Technical and Organizational Capacity of CBOs and NGOs among others as critical. This Plan makes provisions to address them in this Part. These constraints include:

• Weak public and community-based institutions and governance arrangements;
• Poor technical capacity for supporting implementation;
• Absence of appropriate research  and data base systems, including access to development information;
• Missing culture of strategic planning and coordination in communities;
• Non-existence of a system for networking among partners and stakeholders; and
• Lack of an enabling peaceful and stable environment, etc.

The goal of the Plan’s proposals on Rural Communities and Development Interfaces sector is to create the enabling conditions within communities, implementing organisations and processes, which will ensure the successful and efficient delivery of economic, education, health and other social programmes and projects. Well-articulated interventions are in danger of failure during implementation if the foregoing potential setbacks are not addressed.

Policy Designs and Advocacy
The plan envisages deriving its workability from legitimacy among stakeholders. This should therefore lead to designing and institutionalizing appropriate policies. The key objective of this activity is to design and advocate the creation of relevant policy prerequisites for entire success of the Plan.

Research and Database Development and Management
Data, Information and Knowledge are critical to effective Planning and Implementation. It is difficult to find development process that grows with complementing research, data, information and knowledge development and management in a structured, organised and easily accessible manner in the Rivers State experiences. The critical objective of this Plan activity is to become a reference point in research and ICT-based modern database management system in the State’s Sustainable Development process. 

Mapping and Profiling of Stakeholders
The identification and characterization of all the stakeholders in the development process of the state in a continuing manner as a strategic activity of the Plan will have added value to managing stakeholders’ roles and relationship. The Plan provides a framework for doing this is a structured manner.

Community Institutions and Development Interfaces
Governance structures and interfaces of Community Institutions, Development Organizations and Processes management are one largely undeveloped aspect of planned development in Rivers State. This has left a landscape of confusion and constrains within emerging context of modern socio-economic experiences. The Plan dealt with proposal for institutional and governance arrangements in Communities and Development Partners, through well structured processes, facilitated by and coordinated at the RSSDA.

Community Strategic Development Plans
Strategic Plans for communities fitted into the 5-Year Plan cycles of this Plan are to be the basis of development action. For this purposes spatial areas consisting of clusters of traditionally homogeneous communities are proposed as planning units. Experts are to support communities develop technically sound plans, consisting of programmes and projects proposals. These plans will ensure definable elements of expenditure and accounting for budgeted and applied resources.

Technical Capacity and Development Extension Support
The obvious lack of technical competencies in communities and intervention organizations in the state has made necessary the need to organized capacity building component into the development delivery process. The Plan provides for retaining a pool of development extension service workers, enhancing their capacity to support delivery of development and domiciliation community capacity for self- managing sustainable development in the long run.

Programmes and Projects delivery methods
Delivery methods and management systems for social services and economic empowerment programs and projects require unique approaches that lend themselves to efficiency and sustainability, the absence of this is known to be contributory to failure of initiatives. The key objective here is to design frameworks that provide community and implementers guidance in the deployment, ownership and management methods.

Partnership networks
Wide range of potential partners that will continue to emerge and contribute to development of communities, require a framework to coordinate their input and approaches for optimal application of resources. The Plan provides for robust mechanism that continuingly responds to this anticipated situation.

Security, conflict management and peace building
The socio-economic environment in Rivers State, as in other Niger Delta states, is racked by conflicts and insecurity. Governance measures put in place by government and other stakeholders have not been able to secure the peace and put the state on the path of sustainability. The underlying assumptions that inform this plan include the pursuit of a peaceful environment as critical to sustainable development.

Communication strategy and interface
Communication is strategic to engaging stakeholders and deploying programs and projects of this Plan given the varied nature of beneficiaries and actors. Well articulated Plan and Implementation process poorly communicated will not only lead to delivery failure, but may also increase frustration and confusion. A Strategy for managing communication process of the Plan is the objective of this Plan activity.

Exit strategy and sustainability measures
The tenured nature of the Plan calls for sustainability measures at the expiration of the 15-Year period.  Exit Strategy is therefore incorporated into the implementation with guarantee for sustainability beyond the Plan Implementation support systems.

Development plans in Rivers State, like Nigeria in general, are not new. The problem, however, has been that of poor implementation of these otherwise laudable plans. This Part of the plan makes a deliberate effort to overcome this trend by setting the guidelines, standards and caveats that can support successful implementation of this 15-year development plan. The main objectives are to harmonise the three main activity sectors, highlight the need for appropriate policy framework, ensure sustainability, provide indicative costs and ensure that the proposed recommendations don’t not exceed available budget.

The plan recognises existing government institutions that are statutorily charged with development responsibility for the three activity sectors. This is necessary to avoid duplication and misconception. To mitigate this misconception, this plan clarifies the complementary nature of RSSDA interventions and provides deliberate steps to collaborate with these existing institutions.