Eradicating extreme poverty in Africa through productive inclusion: A comparative assessment of two social protection programmes in 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 improving the standard of living of beneficiaries. This study comparatively assessed how the LEAP programme and the JSDF-LEAP project have contributed to improving the standard of living of beneficiaries. A sample of 167 respondents, comprising 81 LEAP households, 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 program, may not yield significant improvement in the standard of living of the extreme 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.