The Atebubu-Amantin municipal Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty LEAP Implementation Committee MLIC has engaged 55 community focal persons as part of preparations towards a nationwide re-assessment of the programme. LEAP is a bi-monthly cash transfer grant to poor and vulnerable households introduced in Ghana in 2008 with the goal of helping reduce poverty and build human capital. According to Mr. Emmanuel Bukari the District Liaison Officer for the project, one key protocol of the programme is a quadrennial reassessment which has not been met since inception due to various reasons. He said the exercise has been necessitated by the need to identify and determine the poverty status and eligibility of households that should benefit from the programme, to reduce inclusion and exclusion errors. It also aims to improve the efficiency in the allocation of budgets to the most vulnerable households. Mr. Bukari, who is also the municipal head of the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, indicated that the exercise will help update the beneficiary register. It will identify households that will no longer be eligible for LEAP, and link them to other complementary services and support. It will also enhance transparency, consistency, and fairness by providing an even playing field for all extremely poor households to enrol onto the programme. Touching on the eligibility criteria, he said extreme poor households on the existing register will remain whiles households classified as poor will be graduated from the programme with some one-off form of assistance to enable them to become self-supporting. Those found to be non-poor will be exited from the programme to make room for new beneficiaries. Mr. Bukari took the focal persons through the pilot phase of the exercise and lessons learnt as well as key activities and pathways for the impending reassessment. Participants asked questions on issues bothering them to which answers were provided, whiles they shared experiences and made suggestions towards a successful exercise. Closing the meeting, Mr. Joseph K.B Tang the Atebubu-Amantin municipal Coordinating Director and chairman of the MLIC acknowledged the key role of the focal persons in the success of the exercise. He thanked them for their voluntary spirit which has seen the programme thrive and urged them to beware of any tendency to politicize the exercise since that has the tendency to derail whatever progress has been made so far. Present were Messrs. Abdul Aziz Toyibu municipal planning officer, Joel Apambila Kassim municipal statistician, Edward Garr Newlove assistant social development officer and Daniel Oduro-Stewart municipal information officer all members of the committee.
