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$100 million Approved By World Bank To Help Ghana’s Social Safety Program

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Author: Amewunoo Walter

GITFIConline.com

The US$100 million Ghana Productive Safety Net  Project 2 (GPSNP 2)  has been approved by the World Bank as it’s to support the government to expand and strengthens its social safety net program. 


The program is said to directly benefit over 1.6 million people in the country and it’s to help improve the incomes and productivity of the poor and vulnerable.


Ghana’s pace of poverty reduction has slowed and again the association between poverty reduction and economic growth has weakened.


“The World Bank is pleased to support this project as it will help to ensure that more poor and vulnerable people have access to basic services and can boost their productivity,” said Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana. “The project is aligned with the Government’s COVID-19 relief and recovery plans which seeks to protect and restore the economic wellbeing of affected households, workers, and enterprises.”


The project will benefit the poorest households in all regions of Ghana by providing cash transfers to 350,000 households through the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) reaching 1.5 million individuals; reaching 60,000 beneficiaries through the Labor-Intensive Public Works (LIPW) program, and supporting 35,000 beneficiaries through productive inclusion activities to enhance the income-generating potential of the poor and vulnerable.

“The project will build on efforts of existing social protection projects by expanding coverage of social protection programs to strengthen performance and impact. Based on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to provide more comprehensive support for the urban poor”, said, Iffath Sharif, World Bank Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice Manager for Western and Central Africa.


GPSNP 2 will extend coverage into urban communities to help tackle pockets of high poverty and vulnerability that exist in these communities. It will also scale up the provision of information, communication, and engagement services to safety net program beneficiaries about education, health, financial well-being, gender, and social inclusion.