By Evans Worlanyo Ameamu
Keta (VR), Aug 23, GNA-The Department of Social Welfare in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region has engaged communities within the area on the enrollment onto the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
The move, according to the officials, was to educate, inform and create awareness about the programme policies and those who could benefit from it.
Mr. Nii-Ashie Kotey, the Unit Head at the Department of Social Welfare, said that the LEAP was a cash transfer programme for the poorest households in the country.
“This programme is owned by government to assist poorest households with basic needs, including food, health, education, as well as to help overcome poverty situations,” he said.
He explained that the poorest households who may qualify to benefit from the programme include orphans and vulnerable children, the aged or elderly people above 65 years, person with severe disabilities who cannot work, and pregnant women and lactating mothers with infant under one-year old.
Mr. Kotey explained that the process of selecting eligible beneficiaries was referred as ‘target’ which involved households identification and selection for the programme based on data from the Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR), which was an agency under the Ministry of Gender.
He said data of qualified household would be required from the GNHR and verified before enrollment onto the LEAP programme platform for payment.
“The selection of beneficiary households is not based on walk-ins, self-selections or expression of need or vulnerability, but on a national call.”
Mr. Kotey said that a qualified person could nominate a caregiver to receive the money on behalf of the household, and the caregiver would have a payment card or instrument issued by the payment service provider and the card should be presented when collecting the money.
He said that the cash when collected is supposed to be use for the purposes, adding that,”If the caregiver cannot collect the money, the household should inform the authorities for another person in the household who can collect the money for the household.”
He stated that one eligible member household would receive GH₵ 384.00, two eligible member households would take GH₵ 456.00 while three and four or more eligible households selected would also receive GH₵ 528.00 and GH₵ 636.00 respectively which would be payable every two months starting from February in every year.
He said all LEAP beneficiaries would be paid electronically on the E-zwitch platform provided by a payment service provider through agency network and warned that no beneficiary should on no account give money to anybody such focal person or others.
He advised that the cash when received, should be invested in children education, medical care, good foods, petty trade, framing among others to help improve the life of all individual beneficiaries.
Mr. Kotey said that a member of the LEAP programme have some major benefits which include Free National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card and renewal, birth certificate for children under 12 months, antenatal and post-natal care with NHIS card and free growth monitoring for babies and children.
He said the authorities of LEAP were working to renew expired card for current beneficiaries while a date would be announced for new routine exercise to collect new data for others to join the programme to receive relief from the government.
Some participant the Ghana News Agency, engaged expressed satisfaction about the LEAP programme and thanked the government and Gender Ministry for the kind gesture to alleviate the plight of the poor.
GNA also gathered that the Social Welfare Department has also conducted the education exercise at other communities such as Abor, Bolove-Nolopi, Sasieme, Asadame, Anlo-Afiadenyigba, Kedzi among others.
GNA
Edited by: Maxwell Awumah/Christian Akorlie