Eradicating extreme poverty in Africa through productive inclusion: A comparative assessment of two social protection programmes in Ghana
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00208523221119984 |
| Author | Seth Kwakye Amofa,Godfred Matthew Yaw Owusu,Justice Nyigmah Bawole,Moses Atta |
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Eradicating extreme
poverty in Africa through
productive inclusion: A
comparative assessment
of two social protection
programmes in Ghana
Seth Kwakye Amofa
University of Ghana Business School, Ghana
Godfred Matthew Yaw Owusu
University of Ghana Business School, Ghana
Justice Nyigmah Bawole
University of Ghana Business School, Ghana
Moses Atta
University of Ghana Business School, Ghana
Abstract
Ghana has experimented with two social protection programmes: the Livelihood
Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, and the Japan Social
Development Fund (JSDF) pilot project aimed at reducing extreme poverty and enhan-
cing the standard of living of beneficiaries. This study comparatively assessed how the
LEAP programme and the JSDF-LEAP project have contributed to improving the stand-
ard of living of beneficiaries. A sample of 167 respondents, comprising 81 LEAP house-
holds, 82 JSDF-LEAP beneficiaries and four District Social Welfare Officers took part in
the study. The study findings suggest that cash transfers alone such as the LEAP pro-
gramme may not yield significant improvement in the standard of living of the extremely
Corresponding author:
Godfred Matthew YawOwusu, Department of Accounting, University of Ghana Business School, PO Box LG
78, Legon-Accra, Ghana.
Emails: gmowusu@gmail.com; gmyowusu@ug.edu.gh
Article
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
International Review of Administrative
Sciences
2023, Vol. 89(3) 883–900
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/00208523221119984
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poor without complementary programmes such as the JSDF-LEAP project to address
the livelihood and other socio-economic challenges that they encounter. The study
recommends a holistic approach to tackling extreme poverty through ‘cash plus’
programmes.
Points for practitioners
The findings of this study highlight the need for public administration practitioners
involved in poverty eradication programmes to pursue a simultaneous design involving
the implementation of both cash transfers and productive inclusion programmes as
the preferred strategy for improving the standard of living of the extremely poor.
Moreover, this research has also revealed that for social protection programmes to
be successfully implemented, carefully designed systems and structures must be put in
place at the national level, through the regional, district and community levels at the
design and implementation phases of such interventions.
Keywords
cash plus programme, extreme poverty, Japan social development fund, LEAP, standard
of living
Introduction
In recent years, there has been renewed global attention on extreme poverty owing to
the epic proportions that it has assumed, and its biting effects on the livelihoods of
households (Fosu, 2017). Currently, the global effort to address extreme poverty has
been framed under the new Sustainable Development Goal 1, which aims at ending
extreme poverty by 2030 (World Bank, 2017). Ghana has made attempts to address
extreme poverty/poverty over the years with several initiatives aimed at providing
some safety nets for the poor. In 2007, the National Social Protection Strategy
was launched to serve as an umbrella under which all social protection (SP) initia-
tives in Ghana are placed. Through this strategy, in 2008 the Livelihood
Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme was introduced as the SP flag-
ship programme in Ghana.
The LEAP programme is a conditional cash transfer (CT) that provides bi-monthly
cash grants to extremely poor households to help smooth the consumption of beneficiar-
ies to enable them to engage in productive economic activities and invest in the human
capital of their children, thereby breaking the intergenerational poverty cycle among
the extremely poor in Ghana (LEAP Management Secretariat (LMS), 2018). With an
initial coverage of 1654 beneficiaries in 21 districts, the programme now covers over
334,023 households.
The LEAP programme commenced with a financing structure of 10% by the
Government of Ghana (GoG) and 90% Donor support. Currently, Donor support has
been reduced to 15% whilst the GoG provides of the 85% funding, aiming to provide
884 International Review of Administrative Sciences 89(3)
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