45TH PAYMENT CYCLE OF LEAP SOCIAL CASH GRANT TO ALL BENEFICIARY HOUSEHOLDS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) will commence its 45th cycle payment from 21st to 25th November, 2016. A total of 212,919 beneficiary households in all the 216 districts of the country will be paid their LEAP grants. During the payments, one eligible member household will receive GHC64.00, two eligible member household will receive GHC76.00, while three eligible member household will receive GHC88.00 and four and more eligible member household will receive GHC106.00. These payments cover the months of September and October 2016.
The 45th cycle payment also includes 192 households from ‘Alleged Witches Camps’ in Gushiegu (Northern Region), the Tamale Children’s Home (Northern Region), the Bekwai Central Destitute Infirmary (Ashanti Region) and the Mampong Babies Home (Ashanti Region). The rest are the Ankaful Leprosarium in the Central Region, Osu Children’s Home in Greater Accra and St Joseph Orphanage at Jirapa in Upper West Region. Beneficiaries of these “institutions’ are special social category who benefit from the LEAP Programme by automatic inclusion. The inclusion of the specialised category as LEAP beneficiaries is in line with the Programme’s objective to reduce the plight of the vulnerable and marginalized in the society.
All the beneficiaries of the LEAP Programme will be paid electronically on the e-zwich platform provided by Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) through Participating Financial Institutions (PFI’s). The e-zwich payment platform requires biometric fingerprint verification of beneficiaries for payment to be effected. Thus, LEAP Programme operates on the principle that “without biometric verification there will be no grant cash-out or payment” to beneficiaries households.
To facilitate the access to health care services, LEAP Programme beneficiaries are participating in a nationwide National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) registration exercise. The registration exercise is currently ongoing. To date a total of 91,118 LEAP household members have been registered free-of- charge onto NHIS. The registration exercise is expected to end by 21st December 2016.
In building a resilient social protection system of the MoGCSP there is the need to equally support people who find themselves in situations of shock induced by floods, rain and wind storms among others. This form of support is captioned “Emergency LEAP” by the MoGCSP. Emergency LEAP is therefore a temporary cash grant which is provided to people who have been affected by social, environmental and natural disasters. The cash grant serves as support to assist them to cope with the impact of the disasters and thereby stabilize them. Persons/households who are Emergency LEAP beneficiaries receive the cash grant for a brief period usually three (3) months.
Four (4) districts namely Bawku West, Bongo, Builsa South and Talensi of the Upper East Region were affected by rainstorms and floods. The MoGCSP through the LEAP programme supported a total of 2984 affected persons from these four districts under Emergency LEAP.
The first payment which covered the months of September and October 2016 was paid to these affected persons, with each beneficiary receiving Two Hundred Ghana Cedis (GHC 200.00) for two months.
The final and second payment to these Emergency LEAP beneficiaries is scheduled for 28th November – 1st December 2016.
The LEAP Programme wishes to use this opportunity to thank all of its stakeholders – Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies (MMDAs), UNICEF, Department for International Development (DfID), and the World Bank for their continuous support to the LEAP. Management and staff of the LEAP Programme and the MoGCSP are also inspired and challenged to do better by a grade ‘A+’ rating on performance by United Kingdom’s DfID in its 2016 annual review of the LEAP Programme. As a Secretariat under the MoGCSP, we wish to salute the Honourable Minister Nana Oye Lithur and her gallant staff of the MoGCSP for their hard work and the distinguished leadership provided to the LEAP Programme.
ISSUED BY:
LEAP PROGRAMME SECRETARIAT,
MINISTRY OF GENDER CHILDREN
AND SOCIAL PROTECTION, ACCRA.
Achaligabe Colson Akanbasiam (Mr) is the Head of Case Management of the LEAP programme. He has over 15 years working experience in both governmental and non-governmental organisations. He holds a Master of Philosophy Degree in Gender and Development (Norway) and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology with Political Science (Ghana).
Alhaji Lateef Mamudu is a senior civil servant and has Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accounting from Tamale Polytechnic and a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Ghana Institute Of Management And Public Administration (GIMPA).
Thomas Boateng Quaison holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and Information Studies from University of Ghana. He has undergone training on Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) including Evaluation of Social Programmes at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Public Administration (MPA) at the University of Ghana Business School and Project Management Professionals (PMP) at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.
Richard Azina Nartey joined the LEAP team in September 2013 as Assistant to the Head of Operations Unit, having previously worked as a Programme Officer on the National Social Protection Strategy at the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. Richard worked with Youth and Women Empowerment (CSO) as Youth Coordinator, Project Manager and Executive Director.
Felix Kwaku Logah Felix Kwaku Logah is the head of operations for the LEAP Programme. He is the lead in planning and implementing LEAP Programme design parameters. He is responsible for targeting and enrollment activities. He is a professional Social Worker who holds Masters degree in Development Studies, Bachelor in Social Work and Clinical Psychology, Certificate in Public Heath all from University of Ghana, Legon. Trained in Designing and Implementing Social Cash Transfer in the Economic and Policy Research Institute, Cape Town -South Africa, Trained in Development Evaluation (IPDET) in Carleton University, Ottawa-Canada.
Dzigbordi Kofi Agbekpornu is the National LEAP Manager and is responsible for leading the team at LEAP Management Secretariat to achieve the Programme objectives. He also coordinates and manages programme activities across the country at regional, district and community levels.
Jeremiah Yanney is a City & Guilds of London Institute Certificate & Diploma holder in Microprocessors and Microcomputer Technology, Microsoft A+, Networking+ and (MCP) Microsoft Certified Professional, (MCSE) Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, FSK systems. He has specialized skills in Hardware, Networking, Systems administration, MIS consultancy, training, and a Certificate in Social protection (CSPS, University of Ghana).