MDAs failed to provide complementary support to LEAP beneficiaries

Mr Richard Adjetey, National Programme Officer, National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) has said Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) failed to implement regulations under a Memorandum of Understand (MoU) signed between them and the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare.

It is to provide linkages to complement support of beneficiaries of the LEAP Project.

The MDAs are to ensure that all beneficiaries automatically qualify to benefit from the complementary services to facilitate access to social services, livelihood-earning activities and to socially empowered households.

Addressing the opening session of a workshop to sensitise journalists on the NSPS, Mr Adjetey said the MDAs currently involved are Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health.

They are expected to provide social service interventions to beneficiaries and Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs to provide livelihood-earning interventions.

He explained that these would improve the status and living conditions of the extreme poor and vulnerable groups as well as strengthen inter-agency collaboration on pro-poor interventions.

Mr Adjetey said the social interventions include the National Health Insurance Scheme, Maternal and Child Health Services, Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Anti-Retroviral Therapy, education on capitation grant, complementary basic education in the communities for children, school feeding programme, bicycles for girls in the northern part of Ghana and free school uniforms and exercise books for children in deprived areas.

The livelihood earning interventions include block farming programme, farmer-based organisation programme, alternative livelihood programme, input supply programme, macro credit to women groups through participatory financial institutions, agro-processing equipment to support women groups in the processing industry and training of female head potters in powder and liquid soap making.

Mr Adjetey said the Ministry of Health has registered 42,906 LEAP household members, while the Ministry of Education had distributed 1,583,000 free school uniforms for children in deprived areas and 39,936,119 free exercise books for children in basic schools.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has so far reached seven regions and 1,200 beneficiary farmers to promote livestock and poultry development, distributed 437 sheep, 181 goats to 200 beneficiary farmers in four Regions, and 563 pigs as well as provided 53,784 metric tonnes of fertilisers to farmers.

He said government was committed to reducing poverty, vulnerability and exclusion and improve the living conditions of all Ghanaians.

However, Mr Adjetey noted that the MDA’s still had much to do to ensure that all beneficiary households benefited from the interventions to support the cash grant they received every other month from the LEAP Project.

He pointed out that the project had covered 68,000 households in 100 Districts but expected to cover 165,000 households by 2015.

The NSPS represents government's vision of creating an all inclusive and socially empowered society through the provision of sustainable mechanisms for the protection of persons living in situations of extreme poverty and related vulnerability and exclusion.

It was established in 2007 on the principle that every Ghanaian matters and is capable of contributing his or her quota to national development when empowered.