More households to receive grants under LEAP
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MOGSCP) has set January 26 to 30, 2015, for the payment of grants to beneficiary households under the 34th cycle of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).
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A total of 89,610 beneficiary households out of the 90,785 households enrolled in 144 districts in the 10 regions of the country, are set to benefit from the 34th cycle payments, which is for the months of November and December 2014.
The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, made this known at a press conference organised by the ministry in Accra on Wednesday.
The media briefing was to enlighten journalists on the ministry’s programmes under the social protection programmes, especially the LEAP
LEAP payments
Nana Lithur confirmed that all outstanding arrears of LEAP grant payments, with the exception of that for the months of November and December last year, had been paid.
She said the ministry had undertaken 33 regular payments in 103 districts and seven cycles of electronic LEAP payments to its beneficiaries in nine districts across the nation, explaining that 31 new demarcated districts and two new districts had been added to the LEAP beneficiary households adding up to 144.
She said a household with one beneficiary receives GH¢24 a month which doubles to GH¢48 in two months, while a household with two beneficiaries receives GH¢ 60 in two months.
Additionally, a household with three beneficiaries receives GH¢ 72 in two months and a household with four or more beneficiaries receives GH¢ 90 in two months and GH¢ 45 a month.
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She further added that the payments were made per household and not per individual.
Social Intervention
She said the LEAP was the 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.
“This is to ensure that the vulnerable poor have access to the benefits offered by various social protection programmes in the country”, she said.
The electronic payment, she said, was the ministry’s latest innovation in the cash transfer programme aimed at reducing transaction costs for the government and recipients.
It is also to ensure faster payments, reduce waiting and travel times for beneficiaries, as well as promote cashless transactions.
LEAP 1000
“The ministry is currently implementing the ‘LEAP 1000’ project which aims at addressing child mortality and malnutrition”, Nana Lithur stated.
She said all foundation work on the roll-out of the LEAP 1000 in the Northern and Upper East regions had been complemented and the ministry would start a pilot programme in the Upper West Region, which would eventually be rolled out nationwide in due course.
According to Nana Lithur, her ministry had developed an institutional framework for coordination at the national, regional, district and community levels to implement the monitoring and evaluation system for the LEAP.
Also, she said, the ministry was setting up a national targeting unit aimed at developing a national single registry database of the extreme poor and vulnerable.
The registry is to be known as Ghana National Household Registry from which all potential beneficiaries for social protection programmes would be selected.
The ministry, she said, had implemented a policy for the elderly to protect their rights and welfare and was committed to rolling out the ‘Eban Elderly Welfare Card’ in four regions.
Nana Lithur reiterated the ministry’s commitment to protect the vulnerable, aged and children through the implementation of policies which would address their access to basic needs.
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