Assessing the impact of cash transfer system–under the livelihood empowerment against poverty program on poverty reduction in Ghana- reflections on North Gonja district; a case study of North Gonja district in Northern Region.

Liv elihood empow erm ent against pov erty is on e of th e many pov erty int erv entions of th e gov ernm ent of Ghana to r educ e th e rat e of extr em e pov erty in th e country. With a quart erly l eap grant d eliv ery and fr e e national h ealth insuranc e r egistration, b en eficiari es ar e exp ect ed to b e abl e to acquir e th eir basic n e eds such h ealth car e, food and education. Th e obj ectiv e of th e r es earch th er efor e was to ass ess th e impact of th e cash transf er und er th e Liv elihood Empow erm ent Against Pov erty - L EAP program on pov erty r eduction among b en eficiari es in North Gonja District by focusing on th e factors that aff ect th e targ eting proc ess, how b en eficiari es utiliz e th eir l eap grant, as w ell as how th ey carry out th eir co-r esponsibiliti es of th e l eap programm e. Using a quantitativ e r es earch m ethod and a sampl e siz e of 107, a surv ey was conduct ed. Th e data coll ect ed was analyz ed quantitativ ely using statistical tools such as fr equ ency distribution, cross-tabulation, and multivariat e analysis of varianc es. Th e r es earch findings indicat ed a positiv e impact of th e l eap program on b en eficiari es in North Gonja District. Firstly, th e cross-tabulation t est for how b en eficiari es utiliz e th eir L EAP grant indicat ed that irr esp ectiv e of th e amount of grant that ev ery r espond ent tak es (b e it GHC 64, GHC 76, GHC 88 or GHC 106) h e/ sh e sp ent significant amount of it on th e various basic n ec essiti es of lif e (such as food, h ealth, education) outlin ed in th e r es earch instrum ent. M eaning that with L EAP grant, b en eficiari es, to a significant d egr e e, ar e att ending to th eir basic n e eds. Also, findings indicat ed that b en eficiari es co-op erat e w ell with th eir co-r esponsibiliti es of th e L EAP program. As it was r ev eal ed that, in as much as r espond ents b en efit ed from th e cash transf er, th ey ar e also r egist er ed on th e national h ealth insuranc e sch em e and also enroll ed th eir wards in schools and b en efiting from th e school f e eding programm e. It is th er efor er ecomm end ed that, th er e should b e an incr em ent in th e curr ent cash grant amount b etw e en 64.00 and 106.00 to a v ery substantial amount that can b e mor e us eful to th e b en eficiari es and th eir entir e hous eholds. That would furth er enhanc e th e w ellb eing of b en eficiari es. Th e L EAP programm e, undoubt edly, is a good social int erv ention for its major rol e in supporting th e vuln erabl e in soci ety to acquir e th eir basic n e eds which n ec essarily l ed to pov erty r eduction in Ghana and North Gonja District to be sp ecific. Th e r es earch er, th er efor e, r ecomm end ed also that curr ent and subs equ ent gov ernm ents should continu e to liais e with for eign donors esp ecially DFID and th e World Bank to commit mor e r esourc es, both t echnical and financial to ensur e th e sustainability of th e programm e.

Source: KNUST