NATIONAL SPOT CHECK ON THE 90TH LEAP PAYMENT CYCLE.

Since Tuesday, 13th August 2024, the Government of Ghana has commenced the disbursement of social subsidies to eligible households nationwide through the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme, under the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Protection (MoGCSP).

This exercise, marking the 90th payment cycle of the LEAP Cash Grant, will benefit over 324,073 households.

To ensure the smooth execution of payments, MoGCSP has assembled dedicated monitoring teams tasked with collecting data on various indicators to evaluate the programme’s performance.

The monitoring exercise facilitates enhanced and effective awareness of LEAP and beneficiaries co-responsibilities, enables the execution of quality checks, ensures timely responses to public inquiries regarding the LEAP Program, addresses disputes, and manages any errors related to inclusion and exclusion that may occur. Furthermore, as part of the monitoring activities, beneficiaries receive education on the Single Window Citizens Engagement Service (SWCES), which is a unit dedicated to managing grievances for social protection programs, including LEAP, GSFP, LIPW, NHIS, and others.

Beneficiaries and all citizens can contact the call center using the following toll-free numbers: (0800-800-800/0800-900-900).

This initiative will also facilitate interactions between the Ministry and beneficiaries, allowing for the assessment of the programme’s impact on their lives.

The amount disbursed to each household is determined by the number of eligible members it includes.

Households qualify for LEAP if they consist of orphaned and vulnerable children, elderly individuals aged 65 and above without support, persons with severe disabilities that prevent them from working, or pregnant women and mothers with infants under one year old.

As such, a One-Member Household will receive GHȻ256.00,

Two-Member Households will receive GHȻ304.00,

Three-Member Households will receive GHȻ352.00, while a Four-Member Household will receive GHȻ424.00.

LEAP, a social cash transfer program aimed at supporting Ghana’s most impoverished households, focuses on poverty alleviation by promoting human capital development and smoothing consumption.

As part of his working visit to the Ahafo Region, the Deputy Minister for Gender, Children, and Social Protection, Hon. Dr. Benjamin Yeboah Sekyere, monitored the payment of the 90th Cycle of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme on Tuesday, 27th August 2024.

The Deputy Minister and his entourage monitored payments at Derma, a cluster pay point where beneficiaries from communities such as Kofitamkrom, Derma Nkwakyire, Subriso, Asoboi, Akobro, and Dwomo gathered to receive their grants.

The monitoring enabled the Deputy Minister to interact with beneficiaries, address their concerns, and gather primary information about the programme and payment processes.

While interacting with beneficiaries, he affirmed the 100% increase in the grant amount to beneficiary households and urged them to invest the grant into profitable businesses and their children’s education.

He reaffirmed that the government is committed to ensuring social intervention programmes benefit poor and vulnerable communities across the country. He mentioned that there is an upcoming reassessment of the LEAP programme to fix exclusion errors and include more beneficiaries. There will also be a household data collection exercise to ensure that households in extreme poverty are easily targeted for social intervention programmes, he added.

Beneficiaries of the programme expressed their gratitude for the government’s continuous support, sharing stories of how the grants have positively impacted their lives by enabling them to meet their basic needs, engage in small trades, and access healthcare and education for their children.

Source: MoGCSP