By Isaac Arkoh
Cape Coast, Nov. 03, GNA – SEND-Ghana, a civil society organization working to enhance social protection, has reminded Ghanaians to demand accountability, transparency, and equity from governments on social protection programmes.
It said the 1992 Constitution of Ghana contained impressive provisions that made provision for social protection a right of every citizen, but not a privilege by politicians.
Regrettably, it said, “many Ghanaians hardly view social protection programmes as citizens’ entitlement, but favours or gifts from the government, hence reluctant to demand accountability.”
Mr. Mohammed Tajudeen Abdulai, Programmes Officer for SEND-Ghana said the situation had been compounded by the fact that existing programmes were characterised by a near-absence of rights-based messaging, inadequate benefits, and lack of feedback mechanisms to address the concerns of beneficiaries.
He was speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a two-day capacity building for journalists dubbed “Journalists in Social Protection in Ghana.”
The training was designed to empower Journalists to report, monitor and educate the public on the essence, rights, and responsibilities of citizens on social protection programmes for improved outcomes.
The participants were drawn from the southern sector including Eastern, Volta, Greater Accra, Central, Western and Western North Regions.
Earlier, similar programmes were held in Tamale and Kumasi for journalists in the Northern Zone and the Middle belt zones respectively.
It was put together by SEND-Ghana in collaboration with the Civil Society Platform for Social Protection, Ghana Social Accountability Platform, Civil Society Platform Ghana on SDGs, and the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection with funding from UNICEF.
Mr. Tajudeen was worried that many Ghanaians had a limited understanding and information about existing social protection programmes on eligibility criteria, benefits packages, financing arrangements, feedback mechanisms and administrative structures.
He called on the government to prioritise allocation of adequate resources to sustain social protection programmes to serve its meaningful purpose.
Following the current economic challenges confronting the country, he said it was important for the government to take tough decisions to prioritise social protection programmes such as the School Feeding Programme, the School Capitation Grant, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) among others.
Ghana’s social protection policy provides a good opportunity to demonstrate action on the country’s endorsement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Therefore, as a matter of priority, it is critical that the Ministry of Finance and the respective sector ministries work to improve social protection budget execution by adopting measures to ensure timely release of funds or payments to beneficiaries and persons who provide services like GSFP caterers,” he added.
Facilitating the programme, Mr. Justice Baidoo, the Lead Consultant for Justice Baidoo Consulting Limited, encouraged journalists to build networks and strategically position themselves to do impactful stories.
He said the Civil Society in Ghana had numerous resources for journalists to explore but were unable to spend mainly due to the inability of the media to access such opportunities.
For that matter, he said JISOP had come as a key stakeholder in the right-based approach to social protection agenda of Ghana, using innovative means to limelight issues of social protection.
Generally, the participants were delighted at the opportunity offered them and pledged their collective support to make the initiative a success.
GNA