The Department of Social Welfare and Community Development in the Ayawaso North Municipality has engaged stakeholders on the Reassessment Strategy of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).
Speaking at the meeting on Monday, the head of Social Welfare and Community Development of the Ayawaso North Municipal Assembly, Madam Vera Aku Nyarko, explained that the reassessment exercise was crucial in ensuring that the programme continues to serve needy households.
She noted that beneficiary households are expected to be reassessed every four years to confirm their continued eligibility.
According to her, the LEAP Programme, managed by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) since 2008, aims to smooth consumption and improve access to essential social services for extremely poor households.
Madam Nyarko outlined the main objectives of the LEAP Programme, including improving basic household consumption and nutrition, increasing access to healthcare services, enhancing school enrolment and retention, and facilitating access to social services that improve welfare and labour productivity.
Highlighting the programme’s progress, she noted that it currently covers 350,551 households across 260 districts in the country but pointed out that the Municipality has only two households with six beneficiaries.
“These beneficiaries, residing in Alidu and Maamobi communities, have received bi-annual grants since 2018,” she noted.
The Department has announced that the reassessment and validation exercise will begin next week, with the exact date to be communicated soon.
The LEAP programme is a cash transfer programme that seeks to reduce extreme poverty by smoothening consumption and facilitating access to other social services among the extremely poor and vulnerable households in Ghana.
Margaret Adjeley Sowah, ISD
