The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection in Ghana has launched the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 1000 project. This initiative is supported by UNICEF and USAID, aiming to enhance resilience among vulnerable groups in the Northern and Upper East regions of Ghana. The project is funded by USAID with a budget of $12 million and will be implemented over four and a half years, from 2014 to 2018. Approximately 28,000 extremely poor households in northern Ghana have been enrolled.
LEAP 1000 is designed as a social cash transfer program to combat extreme poverty and stunting. It provides financial aid and health insurance to extremely poor households across Ghana, targeting those with pregnant women and children under one year old. The program aims to alleviate short-term poverty while fostering long-term human capital development. It focuses on preventing stunting, underweight conditions, and malnutrition among children during their first thousand days of life.
The program also emphasizes capacity building and accountability by supporting the development of a national e-payment system. Partners involved will assess the impact of the cash transfers on household incomes, economic resilience, nutritional decisions, beneficiary outcomes, and lasting economic effects.
USAID Mission Director James Bever expressed gratitude to partners for "answering the moral imperative that is ending extreme poverty within a generation."
USAID has been active in Ghana since 1957, working to improve food security, healthcare access, education quality, and local governance.