The World Bank, through the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project 2 (GPSNP 2), released GH42 million on Monday, April 4, 2022, to assist the Government of Ghana (GoG) in paying two cycles of arrears of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) for 344,000 beneficiary households.
The ongoing global economic challenges, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have increased domestic economic strain, resulting in progressive LEAP payment delays. As a result, LEAP beneficiaries, particularly the poor and vulnerable, have suffered the most in Ghana.
“We are happy to support the government [of Ghana] with the LEAP payments in the interest of beneficiaries to avoid eroding gains made over time and to protect beneficiary households’ well-being and resilience to shocks.” “These payments will help cushion GoG in the interim as efforts are made to identify and provide sustainable, reliable funding for the LEAP program and social protection interventions in general,” said Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
The LEAP program, which began in 2008, is one of Ghana’s flagship social protection programs.
The program aims to smooth consumption in extreme poor households, with a particular focus on orphans and vulnerable children, the elderly (65 years and older), severely disabled, and pregnant women or mothers with children under the age of one year.
The program also aims to improve access to basic social services such as healthcare by encouraging beneficiary households to enroll their school-aged children in school and to boost human capital by encouraging beneficiary households to enroll their school-aged children in school.
Beneficiary households receive cash grants via electronic payments every two months, as per the GPSNP 2 program design. The size of the cash benefit varies depending on how many people in the household are eligible for the grant.
The monthly benefit varies between GH32 and GH53 per eligible beneficiary. The Ghanaian government has gradually increased the program’s beneficiary reach, from 1,645 beneficiary households in a few districts at its inception in 2008 to 344,023 beneficiary households in all districts across the country today.
Furthermore, by gradually increasing its contribution to the program, the government has demonstrated its commitment to its implementation. It currently funds about 80% of the program’s total funding, with development partners providing the remaining 20%.
It will be critical for the government to identify ring-fenced funding to ensure regular payments of social welfare programs, especially during global economic downturns like the current one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank remains committed to assisting the Government of Ghana in its agenda to support the poor and vulnerable populations through needed social assistance programming, through both technical and financial assistance.
