[ 2012-07-08 ]

LEAP Grant Now GH˘36 Per Month
Government on Saturday re-launched the Livelihood
Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme with
an increment on the current grant of GH˘ 12 to GH˘
36 per month for poor households around the
country.

The LEAP Programme is a social cash transfer
programme which provides cash and health insurance
to extremely poor households across the country to
alleviate poverty and encourage long term human
capital development.

The launch was on the theme: “Protecting the
extreme poor, vulnerable and excluded: Our
collective responsibility.”

Vice-President John Dramani Mahama, speaking at
the launch in Accra, said the initiative was not
meant to keep households on the programme forever
but support them come out of poverty.

He said it was important to have a social
protection strategy that could help the country
improve on the lot of its citizenry for national
development.

Vice President Dramani said the LEAP was aimed
among other things, at improving the basic
consumption of beneficiary households by
increasing school enrolment, attendance and
retention of children, as well as improving on
livelihood income-earned activities.

He said the programme has benefited over 68, 502
households in 94 districts.

The Vice-President said the programme has targeted
to reach 200,000 beneficiary households in 170
districts in the country by 2015.

He commended the efforts of donor partners to
support Ghana to alleviate poverty in the
country.

Mr. Moses Asaga, Minister of Employment and Social
Welfare, said vulnerability and deprivation has
given policymakers a comprehensive understanding
of poverty at various levels of economic and
social well-being, hence the interventions.

He said it was against this background that the
government has developed the National Social
Protection strategy which is aimed at creating an
all inclusive and socially empowered society
through the provision of sustainable social
interventions for persons living in extreme
poverty.

“These interventions constitute a composite of
social protection programmes which are carefully
designed to bring their aggregate impact to bear
on extreme poor households and improve their
living conditions,” Mr Asaga added.

Source - GNA

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