250 Households in Ada East receive payments under LEAP
Two hundred and fifty households in four island communities in the Ada East District of the Greater Accra Region have benefited from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
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The communities are Azizakpey, Alorkpem, Aflive and Kpetsupanya.
The beneficiaries received the maiden payment of their grants, which ranged from GH¢144 to GH¢270, depending on the number of individual beneficiaries in the household, at separate ceremonies in their respective communities last Monday.
To ensure transparent and accountable payments in the new communities that had been added to the beneficiaries of LEAP, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection , Nana Oye Lithur, visited all the four communities. She was accompanied by some security personnel and journalists.
The beneficiaries were identified and paid according to a list that had been compiled by the Department of Social Welfare, under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MOGCSP).
Impact on beneficiaries
Some of the beneficiaries shared their views on the impact that LEAP had on them with the Daily Graphic. A 65-year-old beneficiary, a widow, Madam Elizabeth Akorli, said the money would help her to cater for her five children, adding that she would invest part in her broom-making business in order to generate more income.
Another beneficiary, Madam Anorkor Apronti, a 65-year-old fishmonger and a mother of eight, said she would invest the money in her business.
She said since there was no electricity supply to the area, they had to buy iced blocks to preserve the fish, “ and this is very costly so we sometimes have to dry the fish.”
An 82-year-old blind woman, Madam Dadjehigor Dakplavi, also received support from the LEAP programme.
Nana Oye Lithur
The sector minister announced that LEAP beneficiary households would be increased to 150,000 in July and scaled up to 200,000 by December this year.
She said the ministry would adopt the electronic system of payment in all the districts to ensure faster payments, reduce waiting and travel times for beneficiaries, as well as promote cashless transactions.
Nana Lithur added that the next target of the LEAP was to include the urban poor, such as “Kayayei” (female porters) and some residents in the slums.
She advised the beneficiaries to utilise the funds properly by investing them in their businesses, as well as the education of their children.
What is LEAP?
The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme is a flagship of the government’s social protection intervention programme, which supports orphans, vulnerable children, severely disabled persons and the elderly poor who do not have any source of support.
The grant is disbursed in two ways: Manually and electronically. The manual method is payment through the Ghana Post, while the electronic is done through the MTN Mobile Money Transfer, AYA Technologies and the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System.