By Anthony Adongo Apubeo, GNA
Bolgatanga, Sept. 14, GNA – BasicNeeds Ghana, an advocacy non-governmental organisation, has equipped the vulnerable in the Bolgatanga Municipality and the Talensi District 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 with beneficiaries and key stakeholders, focused on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, the three per cent District Assembly Common Fund for Persons with Disabilities and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The 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.
It 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,” funded by Expertise France, an agency of the French Development Agency (AFD).
It is being implemented in the Upper East Region by BasicNeeds Ghana in partnership Centre for People’s Empowerment and Rights Initiatives (CPRI) and in collaboration with 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 for Basic Needs 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 also invited to share their experiences on how the interventions had affected their lives, to 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, now in its second year, is being implemented in seven regions, targeting two districts in each region, and is aimed at strengthening community systems to provide integrated, people-centred HIV, tuberculosis, sexual and reproductive health, and mental health and psychosocial support services, particularly during the perinatal and postpartum periods.
It also seeks to improve maternal and child health outcomes among the poorest and most vulnerable women and address gender-based inequalities in access to healthcare services.
In the Upper East Region, the project is being implemented in the Bolgatanga Municipality and Talensi District, with interventions 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, Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly, said 1,128 households in the Municipality were previously benefiting from the LEAP programme.
According to him, 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 said LEAP payments were intended to supplement the incomes of extremely vulnerable households and enable them to meet their basic needs.
He explained that households of four or more members currently received GH¢530.00, with the amount benefiting the entire household rather than individual members.
Mr Azam urged civil society organisations, the media and other stakeholders to intensify advocacy to ensure that vulnerable groups were aware of and able to access social protection programmes designed to support them.
Mr John Millim Nawomya, the Talensi District Chief Executive, said despite several interventions by government over the years, many citizens still faced significant barriers in accessing essential services and commended BasicNeeds Ghana and its partners for working to enhance vulnerable access to social protection services.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Anthony Adongo Apubeo
[email protected]