Cash Transfers and Multidimensional Child Poverty in Ghana

Abstract

LEAP is a flagship program of Ghana government that seeks to leap poor households out from poverty. Since the inception of this program, limited studies have explored the effect of the program on child poverty in Ghana. This study sought to quantify the impact of LEAP program on multidimensional child poverty using Global MPI. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to achieve the objectives of the study. The study used secondary data obtained from Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER). The children were grouped into two, namely pre-school (0-4 yrs) and school-aged (5-17yrs) children. Five dimensions (nutrition, health, information, housing, sanitation) and 15 indicators were used to compute MPI for pre-school children. MPI of school aged children were also computed using five dimensions (education, health, information, housing, sanitation) and 15 indicators. The study found that the proportion of pre-school children deprived in wasting, underweight, stunting, water, toilet and cooking fuel rose in 2012 whiles that of hospital, health status, insurance, internet, mobile and computer decreased in 2012. In the case of school aged children, the study found that, with the exception of cooking fuel and toilet, the deprivation rate of all other indicators decreased in 2012. The study found that pre-school children from treatment group had their MPI significantly reduce more than children in control group. However, in the case of school-aged children, the study found that children in treatment group had their MPI significantly increased than children in control group. The study concluded that whiles LEAP program had significant positive impact on pre-school children, it had no impact on school-aged children. The study recommend that LEAP program should be supplemented with food nutrients since the proportion of children deprived in nutrition increased in 2012.