The Caretaker Minister for the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection [MoGCSP] and Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah together with the Chief Director, Dr. Afisah Zakariah are monitoring payment of 75th and 76th cycles of LEAP cash grants to beneficiaries in the Ashanti Region from 25th – 29th April, 2022.
On the first day of monitoring, they visited Dakojom, Daban and Sokoban pay points.
The Caretaker Minister, Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, sensitised beneficiaries at the pay points on the grant amount, double payments and other government social interventions such as the NHIS, the disability fund, school feeding, free SHS, amongst others.
She also advised beneficiaries to put the monies into profitable ventures and not otherwise.
The beneficiaries at the pay points visited, expressed their appreciation to government for the continuous support to the vulnerable, aged, sick, orphans, persons with disability among others.
Some beneficiaries also shared their testimonies on how beneficial the grant has been to them; petty trading, payment of hospital bills, payment of school fees among others.
The payment is currently going on smoothly as expected and the Participating Financial Institutions are being accompanied by armed police officers, Social Welfare and Community Development officers as well as other officers from the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly.
Together with the Hon. Minister and entourage is the Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Social Welfare and Community Development, Mrs. Esther Apraku Nyarko, the Community Care Programme Head from the Regional Directorate of Social Welfare, Mr. Albert Boateng, officers from the LEAP Management Secretariat and officers from the Ministry.
Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) programme
The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme provides cash and health insurance to extremely poor households across Ghana to alleviate short-term poverty and encourage long term human capital development.
LEAP started a trial phase in March 2008 and then began expanding gradually in 2009 and 2010. As of early 2015, the program reaches over 90,000 households across Ghana. It is the flagship program of Ghana’s National Social Protection Strategy and is implemented by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP).
Eligibility is based on poverty and having a household member in at least one of three demographic categories; single parent with orphan or vulnerable child (OVC), elderly poor, or person with extreme disability unable to work (PWD). Initial selection of households is done through a community based process and is verified centrally with a proxy means test.
An exciting feature of LEAP, unique in the world, is that aside from direct cash payments, beneficiaries are provided free health insurance through the new National Health Insurance Scheme which began in 2004-05. This is facilitated through a memorandum of understanding between the MoGCSP and Ministry of Health; funds to cover enrollment in health insurance are transferred directly to the local health authority who then issues cards to LEAP households. Continued receipt of cash payments from LEAP is conditional on a health insurance card.
