879 People benefit from LEAP in Yilo Krobo
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), has presented monies to 879 beneficiaries under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme in the Yilo Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region.
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Drawn from 31 communities in the district, the beneficiaries were given between GH¢48 and GH¢90 depending on the number of people in their respective households.
The presentation was made when the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) ,Nana Oye Lithur, visited some of the communities last Monday to solicit views from beneficiaries on the impact of the programme on their lives and how to improve on it.
The communities visited included Jaba, Okperpiem Zongo and Agyekpo.
The minister was accompanied by the Eastern Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Harrison Tete-Donkoh and other officials from the department.
Beneficiaries of LEAP include elderly people above 65 who are poor, the physically challenged who are unable to work and carers of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs).
Social intervention
Under the programme, a single beneficiary of a household receives GH¢48; two beneficiaries of a single household are entitled to GH¢60; three beneficiaries of a single household get GH¢72, while a family of more than four beneficiaries is eligible to receive GH¢90 in two months.
Interacting with the press, Nana Oye Lithur said the purpose of the programme was to break the cycle of poverty in the country.
She said about 50,000 aged persons were now benefitting from the programme, adding that the government was committed to expanding it to cover about 160,000 elderly people.
She described the programme as an important social intervention because it was geared towards improving the living standard of the aged.
Other perspective
The Municipal Chief Executive of Yilo Krobo, Mr Andrew Sodah, told the media that the programme had transformed the lives of people within the beneficiary communities.
According to some of the beneficiaries, they were now able to take better care of their children, the aged and ailing relatives due to the cash transfers.
Some of the beneficiaries however called for the amounts to be increased to help them meet the current hike in the prices of goods and services.