ABSTRACT

The high level of poverty in Ghana led to the introduction of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Program in 2008 to decrease the chronic/shock-induced poverty, address social risks and reduce their economic vulnerability. Inconclusive findings on the effects of the program led to this study. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the socio- economic effects of the LEAP on beneficiaries, the challenges that the implementation of the LEAP faces, and solutions to these challenges. With reference to the Functionalist Theory and the Sustainable Livelihood Framework, a mixed method approach was adopted to collect qualitative data through interviews and quantitative data with the use of a questionnaire. One hundred and nineteen (119) respondents were sampled from a population of 711 in the Asutifi North and South Districts. The study found that LEAP has reduced social risks, improved food security, improved access to health, increased access to education by children from beneficiary households and increased the access of beneficiaries to credit facilities. The challenges identified by the study to be hindering the implementation of the LEAP, included insufficiency of the funds, extortion of monies from the beneficiaries, lack of updated data, and political interference. The study suggests that the provision of economic rewards for Community Focal Persons, the need to adequately resource the secretariats responsible for LEAP implementation, and the regular review of grants for beneficiaries can help maximize the intended effects of the program.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

    Background of the study

Reports by UNICEF (2013) have shown that, even as at 2006 Ghana had been able to eradicate extreme hunger and poverty. For example, the overall poverty was reduced substantially from 51.7% in 1992 to 31.9% whiled 16.5% of the people were living below poverty in 2006. However, in the current round of the survey, it was reported that only about a quarter of Ghanaians are poor with less than a tenth being extremely poor. This amounts to 8.4% of people being extremely poor and 24.2% of people being described as poor. However, the general poverty level in the country is still high especially in rural areas (Cooke, Hague and McKay, 2016). According to the UNICEF report, although households in urban areas continue to have much lower average rates of poverty, rural poverty is almost four times high as urban poverty, making it two times higher than it was in the 1990. Besides the concentration of the poverty in rural areas, it has been argued that an extreme poverty rate of 18.5% is significant enough to deny many people of basic life essentials like food, health, education, shelter and others. In line with programs that are normally developed by other developing countries to make the lives of their citizenry better (Barrientos, 2013; Dinbabo, 2011), the government of Ghana in the year 2008 introduced the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) as a component of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) (Government of Ghana, 2013) to help eradicate extreme poverty.

Since the 1990s in Ghana, much progress has been made in reducing poverty and improving the livelihoods of the extremely poor, enabling the country to achieve the millennium development

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goal 1 which targeted reducing poverty by half the proportion of the population living in poverty. For example, overall poverty reduced substantially from 51.7% in 1992 to 31.9% in 2006. This has helped to lower the proportion of the population living in extreme poverty over the years. For example, report from Round 5 of the Ghana living Standard Survey (GLSS 5) suggested that about 16.5% of the people living in poverty as at 2005/2006. However, in the current round of the survey, it was reported that only about a quarter of Ghanaians are poor whilst under a tenth of the population are extremely poor. In percentage terms, this translated to 8.4% of people being extremely poor and 24.2% of people being described as poor. The survey assumed a lower poverty line of GHC¢792.05 per adult per year which is only based on considerations of nutritional requirements of household members such that, individuals with yearly incomes below the amount are considered to be in extreme poverty. The reason is that, even if their entire budget is allocated to food, they would not be able to meet their minimum nutrition requirements considering the average consumption basket). In real terms, more than 2.2 million Ghanaians (based on 2010 PHC projections) cannot afford to feed themselves with 2,900 calories per adult equivalent of food per day, even if they were to spend all their expenditures on food. Although the absolute number living in extreme poverty has reduced over time, it is still quite high given the fact that Ghana is considered to be a lower middle-income country.