ABSTRACT
The study investigated accessing the effectiveness of livelihood empowerment against poverty to the reduction of child labour in the Ningo-Prampram District in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Using a written questionnaire and an open-ended interview guide, the researcher surveyed a sample population of 120 respondents and investigated the effectiveness of livelihood empowerment against poverty to the reduction of child labour in Ningo-Prampram District. The study employed the mixed method to elicit answers from 130 respondents but has to work with 120 respondents whose questionnaires were returned based on the nature of the study area. Significant information was gathered through structured and unstructured, interviews and Focus Group Discussions. Data was collected using a self-developed structured questionnaire and was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively using descriptive statistics. The study found that the disbursement of LEAP grants in the Ningo-Prampram District is affected by payment by proxy and the late arrival of the grants. It also found out that child labour incidents among LEAP beneficiaries have decreased impressively. The study, suggests that the Department of Social Welfare should try to adopt strategies that will help in the prompt disbursement of funds other than delaying in its disbursement. Once beneficiaries are verified and selected, the department should aid in opening individual bank accounts for them for easy accessibility of funds and financial inclusion. The queueing at the designated collection points physically and economically inconvenient the aged and severely disabled, considering the fundament conditions of eligibility (impoverishment and vulnerability) to the LEAP grant.
The study further recommends however that the Social Welfare Department should intensify sensitization programs as well as monitoring and evaluation to enhance beneficiaries’ knowledge on the objectives of the LEAP grant to ensure maximum compliance to these objectives.
KEYWORDS: Child Labour, Empowerment, Livelihood, Poverty.
CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Introduction
Social exclusion and poverty are not mutually exclusive. “Social exclusion is associated with the materialisation of poverty, being without basic resources, marginalization, incapability, no entitlements, powerlessness and livelihood failures (Cameron, 2006; Pierson, 2007; Mathieson et al., 2008; Rawal, 2008; Robeyns, 2011). Drawing on existing literature, the impoverished in society, generally found at the individual, household, group and neighbourhood levels, are those who are usually confronted with the highest incidents of exclusion from some elements of social security interventions (Muddiman, 1999a; Muddiman, 1999b; Pierson, 2007).
On the global terrain, poverty remains a major concern for many countries. In as much as diverse strategies have been employed in addressing this social menace, it is persistent, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank (2011) defines poverty in terms of whether individuals in society have enough resources to meet their needs.
According to (World Bank, 2018) the people living in abject poverty globally have been quantified to be marginal. However, the pace of the poverty reduction rates has decelerated, triggering a major concern over accomplishing the goal of ending poverty by 2030. This revelation is signalling the necessity of vigorous pro-poor intervention programmes.
Despite the tremendous progress in reducing extreme poverty globally, rates have obstinately persisted high in low-income, conflict and political turbulence countries (World Bank, 2018). About half of the world’s countries are estimated to have poverty rates less than 3 per cent. But the report also indicated that the world altogether is not on track to achieving the target of less than 3 per cent of people in the world living in extreme poverty by 2030. A case in point is Sub- Saharan Africa, where, poverty would persist in double digits by 2030 (World Bank, 2018).
As several countries identified poverty as a principal factor leading to social exclusion; necessarily, governments put in safety nets to include the poor, socially and economically. Social protection therefore is characterized as a process of incorporating the welfare of the poor, excluded, vulnerable and marginalized into the operative areas of society such as the labour market, economy, society, culture, citizenship, education, health and income groups (Chapman, 2006; De la Brière and Rawlings, 2006; Slavin, 2009).
Of extreme importance to many countries is the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) declaration signed in 2000, which entrust leaders, globally to fight poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women (WHO,2018).
In a bid to achieving these goals, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana implemented various policies targeted at alleviating poverty, ensure a sustainable source of livelihood and promote social inclusion. Historically, Ghana over the years has adopted diverse strategies to combat poverty and ensure social protection, of which some are:
- School Feeding Programme under the Ministry of Local Government
- Free School Uniform and Exercise books implemented under the Ministry of Education
- Capitation Grant under the Ministry of Education
- Local Enterprise and Skills Development Programme (LESDEP)
- National Youth Employment Programme /Ghana Youth Employment and Enterprise Development Programme as well as
- Pro-Poor interventions for poor peasant farmers including “Block Farming” under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture among others.
Ghana’s quest to meet these goals (MDGs), intensified strategies to fight extreme poverty by adopting other initiatives, resulting in the launching of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) in 2007.
Technically, the NSPS is designed to tackle extreme poverty in the country; the establishment of a new social grant scheme to provide a basic and secure income for the most vulnerable households, better poverty targeting of existing social protection programmes and a package of complementary inputs for beneficiaries of social protection programmes (Abrebrese, 2011; Jaha & Sika-Bright, 2015).
Within this National Social Protection Strategy, the flagship programme of Ghana, the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) was birthed in 2008. The “LEAP programme is a cash transfer administered by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) and managed by the Department of Social Welfare (DSW). The LEAP provides financial support (cash grants) to individuals and or households identified to be extremely poor and vulnerable who fall within the categories below:
