Govt will sustain LEAP programme – Deputy Gender Minister
The Deputy Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, Hajia Zuweira Lariba Abudu, has reiterated government’s commitment to effectively ensure that the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme is sustained.
She said even though the programme faces some challenges, government was working hard to find lasting solution to the problems.
The Deputy Minister made the statement at the stakeholder’s engagement forum on the programme here in Tamale on Monday.
The programme is being funded by the World Bank with support from the government of Ghana.
The idea of the engagement was to promote the use of cash grants and access to social services as sources to reduce poverty in the country.
The engagement also was earmarked to improve the welfare to foster long term human capital development among extremely poor and vulnerable people in the society.
Participants were brought together from the Bono East, Northern, Savannah, Upper West, Upper East and North East regions.
The deputy minister added that the stakeholder’s engagement forum was also to bring stakeholders together to discuss some of the challenges confronting the programme.
Hajia Lariba stated that the stakeholder’s engagement forum would go a long way to provide lasting solution to the challenges.
She stated that her Ministry and the Ministry of Finance were currently collaborating to effectively review the cash amount for the beneficiaries.
This she said, would also improve and enhance the programme to the benefit of the vulnerable in the society.
“The LEAP programme has come to stay and stakeholders must work hard for its success,” she added.
The Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection and Member of Parliament (MP) for Walewale in the North East Region told the stakeholders to have the programme at heart and try their possible best to work round the clock to improve upon the programme.
Hajia Lariba stressed that the LEAP programme was sustainable and had yielded good fruits to the beneficiaries of the vulnerable people in the society.
She however, assured beneficiaries that they would be getting paid timely after the forum.
“The little you are receiving your wife, your children, can use it to start something small to help the family grow,” Hajia Lariba advised.
FROM TIMES REPORTER, TAMALE
