Ghana to improve productivity, access to jobs

The World Bank has approved a $60 million International Development Association (IDA) credit for the Ghana Productive Safety Net project to strengthen and improve social safety nets and productive inclusion of the poor and vulnerable.

“The project will contribute towards the government’s objective of improving the livelihood of poor households by harnessing investments in the Social Protection sector to support these households to better access services that promote their productivity and improve their access to jobs,” said Henry Kerali, World Bank Country Director for Ghana.

The project will directly benefit the poorest households in all regions of Ghana as follows: 25,000 individuals through a productive inclusion programme; 30,000 beneficiaries through a Labor-Intensive Public Works programme (LIPW) and 350,000 households through a Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) cash transfer programme.

Beneficiaries will be selected from the poorest districts and communities using the most updated data available from the Ghana Statistical Service.

Ghana has made significant progress in establishing social protection systems using “disruptive technology” the Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR), which allows households to be selected into a range of targeted social safety programmes through an objective and transparent process.

The project will also strengthen the national safety net delivery system and indirectly benefit all households that will be captured in the GHNR as potential beneficiaries of social protection programmes.

The Ghana Productive Safety Net project aims to further improve the effectiveness and sustainability of the LEAP cash transfer and LIPW programmes and to also complement these by contributing to jobs creation for extremely poor households.

This includes the development of small earth dams and dugouts to mitigate the impacts of climate, as well as improving standards for maintaining these assets with community involvement and ownership.

The project directly contributes toward the goals of Ghana’s “Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies (2017–2024),” and the “Agenda for Jobs: Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunity for all (2018 – 2021).

“By providing opportunities for extremely poor households to access productive livelihoods, this project is also fully aligned with the government’s ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda, which puts increased emphasis on economic development and job creation,” said Iffath Sharif, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice Manager for West and Southern Africa.

The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programmes that boost economic growth, reduce poverty and improve poor people’s lives.

IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 75 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa.