Social protection programmes are touted by many, as tools that help reduce poverty and inequality. Beyond protecting families from falling into or remaining in poverty, they appear to contribute to the growth of the economy through raising labour productivity and social stability. Ghana has over the years implemented different forms of social protection programmes; Programme of Action to Mitigate Social Cost of Adjustment (PAMSCAD) in 1988 and the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) in 1990 being typical examples. While PAMSCAD and PA contributed to improvement in the livelihoods of beneficiaries, proper targeting of beneficiaries is reported to have been a major challenge.
To improve the programme design for social intervention, the government in 2008 introduced the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme. Part of the objectives was to increase consumption and access to social services and opportunities for extremely poor and vulnerable people.
Since the implementation of the programme, the number of household beneficiaries have risen from 1,645 households in 2008 to cover 332,200 households in 2019. Similarly, government’s expenditure on the LEAP programme has increased from GHC 500,000.00 in 2008 to GHC 200,746,481 in 2020. Although, these investments are expected to translate to reduced poverty levels, the programme has recorded mixed results. It is necessary therefore, that further assessments are conducted on the benefits of the programme on the beneficiaries – presenting the views of beneficiaries beyond the desk assessments.
Against this background, Imani Centre for Policy and Education through its Atlas Network’s supported Joining Up to Minimise Poverty (JUMP) project, has leveraged audio-visual tools to collect information about the programme and how it has transformed lives of beneficiaries. Crucially, the documentary elucidates the alternative ways by which the programme can be positioned to further support market-based incentives for poverty reduction.
#IMANI #Ghana #africa #poverty #JUMP #PovertyReduction #IMANIDocumentary
