The Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty Programme (LEAP) Secretariat under the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, says it has resumed cash payments for beneficiaries of the programme.

The payment, which started on April 18, 2022, after an initial delay, will go out to 344, 786, beneficiaries  which constitutes the 75th and 76th cycle.

The 76th cycle will have beneficiaries receiving double their every two months cash amount due to the delay in the 75th cycle.

Beneficiaries are expected to as usual visit their various community payment centers with their E-Zwich to cash out their monies.

“The LEAP Management Secretariat wishes to inform stakeholders that the government has released funds for the nationwide payment of cash grants for the 75th and 76th cycle to 344, 786 households of the LEAP programme. As has been the practice, beneficiaries will be paid their grants through e-zwich at designated pay-points in their respective communities and the premises of the participating financial institutions.”

Managers of the LEAP have tested these current beneficiaries and have established that they are very poor and the degree of vulnerability grants them eligibility to join the LEAP programme.

“The current beneficiaries have been means-tested to be extremely poor with the following category of vulnerability that makes the households eligible for the LEAP programme: (1) elderly, 65 and beyond without support, (2) orphans and vulnerable children, (3) persons with severe disability who cannot walk, and (4) pregnant mothers with children under one-year-old.”

Beneficiary households receive different amounts of money, depending on the number of eligible household members.

For instance, a household with only one eligible member receives GH¢64; two eligible members from one household receive GH¢76, while three eligible members from the same household are offered GH¢88.

Households with four or more eligible members receive GH¢106.

Support from the World Bank, UNICEF, World Food Programme, amongst others has helped LEAP to reach out to the vulnerable.

The World Bank on Monday, April 4, 2022, released GH¢42 million through the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project 2 (GPSNP 2), to support the government of Ghana (GoG) to pay two cycles of arrears.