LEAP scheme is sustainable

Pg 39 (lead) Jan 28/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

AN economist of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Dr Robert Darko Osei, has indicated that the proposed Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) scheme, under which the extremely poor and vulnerable would be provided financial support to meet their basic needs, is feasible and sustainable.
Under the scheme, which is a component of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS), the government has proposed to pay between GH¢8.00 and GH¢15.00 to extremely poor households in the country every two months to enable them to engage in self-sustaining income generating ventures to support themselves and their dependants.
Reacting to concerns about the sustainability and feasibility of the scheme in Accra, Dr Osei said “the scheme will not be problematic at all because of the comprehensive measures put in place to ensure its success”.
Consequently, he called on Ghanaians, particularly politicians, not to politicise the programme at the expense of the poor and vulnerable in the country.
Dr Osei said systems had been designed and put in place to ensure that the true beneficiaries got the money.
According to data from the Ghana Statistical Service, extremely poor people in the country live on about 50 cents per day.
Dr Osei said a special software had been designed to ensure that all the information gathered was duly processed to select those who truly qualified as potential beneficiaries.
He said the system had been so designed that there could not be any political manipulations.
Dr Osei said those who worked on the programme had learnt a lot from the experiences of Brazil, South Africa and Kenya, which is just about to begin implementing its programme.
On the financial sustainability and of the programme, he said, “The programme only targets the bottom 20 per cent of the extremely poor households in the country and the amount to be spent on them was nothing we should worry about at all.”
In the first year of the programme, 15,000 in 50 districts of the country have been targeted and the total expenditure for that year will be GH¢8 million.
The second year will cater for 35,000 also in 50 districts while 50,000 households in 70 districts would be reached.
In the fourth year, 100,000 households in 138 districts would benefit while the final year will cover all the 230 districts.
In the final year, GH¢26 million will be spent and this, he said, constituted only 0.1 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Meanwhile, a sensitisation workshop on the scheme has been held at Koforidua, reports Nana Konadu Agyeman, Koforidua.
The Project Co-ordinator of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS), Mrs Angela Asante-Asare, said the scheme, the first of its kind to be implemented in West Africa, would be carried out on a pilot basis over a five-year period between 2008 and 2012.
The amount, which would be paid through recognised payment agencies, including the Ghana Post, would be supervised by the Department of Social Welfare under the auspices of the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment.
The workshop, which was, among other things, aimed at sensitising the participants to understand the concept and objectives of the scheme, was attended by the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, municipal and district chief executives, the presiding members of the assemblies and officials of the Department of Social Welfare.
According to the Project Co-ordinator of NSPS, the beneficiaries would comprise mainly extremely poor citizens aged above 65 years, caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children, particularly those affected by HIV/AIDS and children with severe disabilities.
Others, she said, would include extremely poor subsistence farmers and fisher folks, persons with severe disabilities without productive capacity, and pregnant and lactating women with HIV/AIDS, among others.
According to her, it had been estimated that 880,000 households in the country were extremely poor and did not have the capacity to meet their basic nutritional needs.
Mrs Asante-Asare said the LEAP scheme, which would enable the country to meet certain requirements of the Millennium Development Goals relating to education, health and gender equality, would help the beneficiaries to have adequate access to affordable healthcare services, education, secured income, employment and food security.
“The scheme is expected to also help reduce child labour, help the beneficiaries to engage in self-sustaining income generating ventures as well as link them to complementary services, including social security services, to enable them to contribute their quota to national development,” she added.
As part of the conditionalities to qualify for the programme, Mrs Asante-Asare said, the beneficiary households would be required to comply with conditions such as enrolling and retaining all children of school age in public schools, registering with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), registering newborn babies between 0-18 months with the Birth and Death Registry and pregnant women attending post-natal clinics.
“To remain on the scheme, we should also ensure that no child is trafficked or engaged in any activities constituting the Worst Forms of Child Labour,” she added.
As part of measures to ensure the successful implementation of the scheme in the 21 districts across the country, Mrs Asante-Asare expressed the preparedness of the NSPS to organise workshops for staff of implementing agencies including the DWS, MMDAS, non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations.
Mr  Affram Asiedu reiterated the government’s commitment to addressing poverty among the populace and mentioned the introduction of the Capitation Grant, the School Feeding Programme, free transportation for schoolchildren, and micro finance scheme and the LEAP scheme as some of the interventions to that effect.
The regional minister, who expressed the preparedness of his outfit to give the necessary support to ensure the success of the programme in the region, urged the participants to ensure the success of the scheme in their respective districts to better the lots of the poor.
In a presentation on the concept and practice of social protection, Dr Evan Ahiadze of the NSPS, said since poverty had a multi-dimensional implication on the country’s socio-economic development, the scheme would bring on board the marginalised segment of the population to engage in self-sustaining activities to support themselves and their dependants.
“As a nation, we have a moral obligations to support the under-privileged to enable them not only to have equal access to education, healthcare services and social security but also to contribute their quota to national development,” he stressed.