EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LIVELIHOOD EMPOWERMENT AGAINST POVERTY (LEAP) PROGRAMME IN EMPOWERING WOMEN CAREGIVERS IN THE NADOWLI-KALEO DISTRICT

Abstract

Poverty remains a major challenge confronting most developing countries and Ghana is no exception. To reduce its impact, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme has been implemented by the government of Ghana as an anti-poverty measure especially in meeting the needs and empowering the vulnerable groups in poor households. The research was carried out to examine the effectiveness of the LEAP in empowering women caregivers in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. The study adopted a survey design which employed exploratory sequential approach. Tools used for generating primary data include interview guide, focus group discussions and community score cards. In all a total of 258 respondents from three communities and 6 officials were interviewed. The findings of the study indicate that targeting of beneficiaries is not entirely effective, the LEAP programme has largely empowered women caregivers in the selected communities both socially and economically, the programme is faced with challenges such as limited personnel and logistics. Additionally, household size influenced spending decisions of caregivers, although the cash transfer was conditional. The study concluded that the objective of the LEAP in empowering the vulnerable particularly women caregivers has largely been achieved. It is however recommended that policy makers and programme implementers should expand coverage, increase amount periodically, build capacity of staff of the Social Welfare Department for proper monitoring and evaluation of the conditionality attached to the cash transfer as well as, skills training for women through collaborations with civil society organizations. Further research into how the LEAP cash transfer could be used as an avenue for micro investment is also recommended.