Last updated: 06/10/2023

Basic Information

Country
Geographic area
Institutions and agencies involved
Ghana - Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, MoGCSP
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme. n.d. Organizational Structure. Accessed 15 January 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/organizational-structure/
Population group
Children, Elderly persons, Persons with disabilities, Poor households, Women, Mother, Pregnant, Lactating women

Programme Details

Programme objectives

The broad objective of the LEAP Programme is to reduce poverty by smoothing consumption and promoting human capital development among extremely poor households. It is expected that the provision of LEAP cash grant and the promotion of access to social services and opportunities for these extremely poor households would help the households meet their basic needs, enable them to engage in productive activities and invest in the human capital thus breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty. Specifically, the following are objectives of the programme:

To improve basic household consumption and nutrition.
To increase access to health care services.
To increase basic school enrolment, attendance and retention.
To facilitate access to complementary services to improve welfare, livelihoods, and labour productivity.
To complement efforts of other interventions to mitigate shocks that may occur from humanitarian crises as needed/requested.

References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/faq/#1644351452616-9edab0c8-073d
Programme components
1. Conditional cash transfer 2. Enrolment on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/faq/#1644351452616-9edab0c8-073d
Start date
2008
References
Thorne, K., J.E. Taylor, J. Kagin, B. Davis, R. Darko Osei, and I. Osei. 2014. Local Economy-wide Impact Evaluation (LEWIE) of Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme. Rome: FAO. Accessed 11 November 2015. Accessible: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i3814e.pdf
Conditionalities (if any)
1. To enrol and retain all school going age children in the household in public basic schools. 2. All members of the household must be registered and card bearing members of the National Health Insurance Scheme. 3. New born babies (0-18 months) must be registered with the Birth and Deaths Registry, attend required post-natal clinics and complete the Expanded Programme on Immunisation. 4. To ensure that no child in the household is trafficked or engaged in any activities constituting the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL). 5. Register for National Health Insurance Scheme and regular renewal for expired cards.
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/faq/#1644351452616-9edab0c8-073d
Coverage
344,786 households (2022)
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme. 2022. Commencement of the nationwide payment of cash grants to beneficiary households of the LEAP programme. Accessed 06 september 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/1143-2/
Programme expenditure
For 2021, total budget allocation for the LEAP programme stood GHS 197,534,538.
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. 2022. Medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) for 2022-2025. Programme based budget estimates for 2022. Accessed on 15 January 2023 Accessible: https://mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/pbb-estimates/2022/2022-PBB-MOGCSP.pdf

Targeting and eligiblity

Targeting methods
Proxy Means Test
Categorical Targeting
Geographical Targeting
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Eligibility criteria. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/eligibility-criteria/
Targeted areas
259 districts (2012) Collection of poverty data (otherwise called poverty map) of Ghana from Ghana Statistical Service (GSS): • The poverty map gives the overall national incidence of poverty by region, district and community. • The poverty map provides for the ranking of regions, districts and communities by the proportion of poor people in these geographical regions. • The poverty map is obtained from the latest Ghana Living Standard Surveys (GLSS). • The poverty map or ranking determines the region, the district and community to be selected for the programme.
References
[1] Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. 2022. Medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) for 2022-2025. Programme based budget estimates for 2022. Accessed on 15 January 2023 Accessible: https://mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/pbb-estimates/2022/2022-PBB-MOGCSP.pdf [2] Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Eligibility criteria. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/eligibility-criteria/
Target groups
The extremely poor and vulnerable households are a priority of the LEAP programme. Specific social categories within the basket of the extreme poor are eligible to benefit from the programme. The eligible social categories are: • Aged sixty-five years (65) and above without any form of support • Severely disabled without productive capacity • Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) • Extremely poor or vulnerable households with pregnant women and mothers with infants.
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/faq/#1644351452616-9edab0c8-073d
Eligibility criteria
1. Once a district is selected (based on its location on the national and regional poverty rank), communities within the district are selected based on its rank on the district poverty map. 2. Households go to designated points in a community to participate in the data collection exercise to identify extremely poor and vulnerable households. The data collection involves the administration of a proxy-means test (PMT). 3. The collected data from the PMT questionnaire is then processed (or computed) on the LEAP programme MIS. The computation of the data is base on a PMT formula and pre-defined thresholds or cut-off point for qualification. 4. Not all extreme poor are eligible for the LEAP programme. Specific social categories within the basked of the extreme poor are eligible to benefit from the LEAP programme. Those eligible social categories include: (i) aged sixty five years (65) and above without any form of support, (ii) severely disabled without productive capacity, (iii) orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) and (iv) extremely poor or vulnerable households with pregnant women and mothers with infants.
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Eligibility criteria. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/eligibility-criteria/

Coverage and other information

Type of benefits
Cash and health insurance, under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/faq/#1644351452616-9edab0c8-073d
Amount of benefits
The amount a household receives is based on number of eligible household members. During the LEAP grant payments, a 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.
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/faq/#1644351452616-9edab0c8-073d
Payment/delivery frequency
Bi-monthly
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Payments. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/management/payments/
Benefit delivery mechanism
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 PFIs are basically commercial and rural banks.
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/faq/#1644351452616-9edab0c8-073d
Benefit recipients
The household members who take money on behalf of a household are called caregivers.
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme. n.d. Eligibility Criteria. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/eligibility-criteria/
Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and frequency
The Programme has a M&E unit under its organizational structure. The indicators used in monitoring the LEAP Programme are divided into two: the Core Result Framework (CRF) and the Operational Management Framework (OMF). The CRF seeks to provide overview of the programme’s performance to external stakeholders such as government official outside the Ministry and development partners. The indicators include information on targeting, payment performance and case management as well as outcome indicators and impact of the programme as a whole. These indicators are assessed and reported annually and shared in the LEAP Annual Reports. The OMF report detailed information on all the output indicators including linkages to other interventions which are assessed and shared quarterly in the LEAP Quarterly Reports. They provide detailed information to LEAP Management to improve programme implementation.
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Monitoring & Evaluation. Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/management/monitoring-evaluation/
MIS
The Programme has a MIS unit under its organizational structure. The unit is responsible for database functions of the Programme. The MIS has database software that hosts information on beneficiary households and also for the purpose of performing payroll functions. The MIS of the Programme also a component for analysing, monitoring and evaluating data. The Unit also has a disaster recovery system in place at a different location outside the Office to ensure smooth operation in case of any challenges in the current premises.
References
Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana. LEAP Programme n.d. Management and Information System (MIS). Accessed 05 September 2023. Accessible: https://leap.mogcsp.gov.gh/management/mis/