Osei-Akoto, I.Bawakyillenuo, S.Owusu, G.Offei, E.L.2020-02-242020-02-242015-04-17http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/34921School of social sciences colloquiumThe Labour Intensive Public Works (LlPW) of the Ghana Social Opportunities Project (GSOP) was initiated by the Government of Ghana to provide targeted rural poor households access to local employment and income-earning opportunities during agricultural off-seasons. The key objectives of the programme were to protect households and communities against external shocks and; rehabilitate and improve productive and social infrastructure such as roads, dams and schools. The initiative was to mainly mitigate the effects of extreme poverty, particularly during agriculture off-seasons. This study assessed the impact of the L1PW project on labour force participation and employment generation during the off season in agriculture in Ghana. Panel data from two rounds of survey were used for this analysis and propensity score matching technique was used for the estimation of the average treatment effect. The results show that labour force participation increased by 7% in the lean season among beneficiary households relative to the non-beneficiaries. Paid employment among beneficiary households increased by 9.4% relative to the non-beneficiary households and the number of days spent in a week on paid work by beneficiary households increased by 30.8%. The average income received by L1PW beneficiary households from paid work was GHC 48.57 higher than the amount received by non-beneficiary households. The paper shares interesting results on sustainability of such innovative programmes that seek to lessen the burden of unemployment or under-employment in deprived communities during the lean agricultural season while creating vital infrastructure for eco nomic growthenLabour Intensive Public Works (LlPW)GhanaGhana Social Opportunities Project (GSOP)householdsagricultureOther