LEAP makes impact — Mr Ackon
A Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mr John Alexander Ackon, has stated that the government has identified social protection programmes as a tool to help the vulnerable and the poor in the country.
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He mentioned that the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) had significantly contributed to the reduction of poverty in the country, indicating that the programme was making a positive impact on the beneficiaries, whose access to health care and basic amenities had increased.
Mr Ackon made the statement at a workshop organised by Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) to disseminate the report of a study on the country’s social intervention programme.
The study was conducted by the IPA in Accra.
Sustainable livelihood
The IPA is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to finding out what should be done to help the poor to build sustainable livelihood for themselves.
The event was dubbed “Sustained benefits for the ultra-poor: Evidence and what?” and was to provide detailed information on how Ghana could eradicate poverty.
The study provided the results of a random evaluation that was conducted by the organisation to test the impact of the livelihoods programme on the lives of the ultra-poor in northern Ghana.
The workshop was attended by representatives of government institutions, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), stakeholders in social and economic policy designs and non-governmental organisations.
Social protection programmes
Social protection programmes consist of a set of formal and informal mechanisms directed towards the provision of social assistance and capacity enhancement to the vulnerable and the poor in the society.
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Mr Ackon said even though social protection programmes had helped reduce poverty in the country, people in some areas in northern Ghana and other parts of the country were poor, and that had led to a wide poverty gap between the vulnerable groups in the north as compared to the south.
Mr Ackon said the ministry, together with its partners, had initiated programmes which would help in poverty reduction and also strengthen efforts in monitoring funds allocated to the beneficiaries.
A Researcher with the IPA, Mr Dean Karlan, spoke about areas which needed to be strengthened to improve the lives of the people.
The results, he said, began with a baseline, consumption, end-line and a follow-up survey which indicated that the social protection programmes needed to be strengthened to improve the lives of the poor.
Plan for poverty alleviation
The Senior Technical Advisor of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Grace Bediako, urged stakeholders in the design and implementation of social and economic policies to help develop ideas to deal with poverty among the poor.
“It is critical to improve on social protection programmes in the country as it will help change the living conditions of many people,” she added.