By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Bolgatanga, Aug. 21, GNA – BasicNeeds Ghana, an advocacy non-governmental organisation, has educated vulnerable groups in the Bolgatanga Municipality on how to access government social protection programmes to improve their livelihoods and access to essential services.
The engagement, held as part of an interface meeting involving beneficiaries and key stakeholders, focused on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, the three per cent District Assemblies Common Fund for Persons with Disabilities, and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Participants, drawn from vulnerable groups including pregnant women, nursing mothers, women living with HIV, adolescent mothers and survivors of gender-based violence, were taken through the eligibility criteria, application procedures and various forms of support available under the programmes.
The meeting formed part of BasicNeeds Ghana’s project dubbed: “Strengthening Community Systems to Enhance Integrated People-Centred HIV, TB, SRH and MHPSS for Vulnerable Women and Adolescents in Ghana,” which is funded by Expertise France, an agency of the French Development Agency (AFD).
The project is being implemented in the Upper East Region by BasicNeeds Ghana in partnership with the Centre for People’s Empowerment and Rights Initiatives (CPRI).
It is also being carried out in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service, Mental Health Authority, Country Coordinating Mechanism, Ghana AIDS Commission, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.
Mr Bernard Azuure, Programme Coordinator of BasicNeeds Ghana in the Upper East region, said the engagement was intended to bridge the information gap between vulnerable groups and institutions responsible for implementing social protection programmes.
“We want the beneficiaries to meet these stakeholders directly and understand how they can access the various social interventions,” he said.
Mr Azuure said beneficiaries of LEAP and persons with disabilities were invited to share their experiences on how the interventions had impacted their lives. This, he explained, would enable other vulnerable persons who had not yet benefited from the programmes to understand the procedures and requirements for accessing support.
The three-year project, currently in its second year, is being implemented in seven regions, covering two districts in each region.
It seeks to strengthen community systems to deliver integrated, people-centred HIV, tuberculosis, sexual and reproductive health, and mental health and psychosocial support services, particularly during the perinatal and postpartum periods.
The project also aims to improve maternal and child health outcomes among the poorest and most vulnerable women and address gender-related inequalities in access to healthcare services.
In the Upper East region, the project is being implemented in the Bolgatanga Municipality and Talensi District, covering selected communities and health facility catchment areas.
Mr Azuure said the interface meeting would be replicated in the other regions where the project was being implemented to ensure that vulnerable women and adolescents were better informed about available social protection and health services.
Mr John Theodore Azam, Head of the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development at the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly, said 1,128 households in the municipality had been benefiting from the LEAP programme.
He said the municipality was currently undertaking a reassessment exercise to identify and enrol additional beneficiaries, adding that updated figures would be available after the exercise.
Mr Azam explained that LEAP payments were intended to supplement the incomes of extremely vulnerable households and help them meet their basic needs.
He said households with four or more members currently received GH¢530.00, stressing that the support was meant for the entire household rather than individual beneficiaries.
Mr Azam urged civil society organisations, the media and other stakeholders to intensify advocacy efforts to ensure that vulnerable groups were aware of and able to access social protection programmes designed to support them.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Lydia Kukua Asamoah
August 21, 2026
Reporter: Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Email: [email protected]