The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced on October 7, 2026, that combining Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme with the Productive Inclusion Initiative (PII) could cut extreme poverty by 2.5 percentage points by 2030. The statement came during the launch of the Social Protection Act, 2025, and the Social Protection and Affirmative Action Regulations in Accra.
UNICEF urged the Ghanaian government to transform social protection laws into tangible support for vulnerable households. The organisation welcomed the Social Protection Act’s focus on coordination and complementarity between programmes, arguing that stronger links could tackle the multiple challenges faced by families living in poverty.
“We have evidence that when paired, the LEAP and PII programs have the potential to reduce extreme poverty by two and a half percentage points by 2030,” UNICEF said. The agency illustrated the need for integrated support by describing a young mother struggling not only with income but also with the cost of nutritious food, healthcare, childcare, skills development, education, and employment opportunities.
The Social Protection Act, passed in 2025, establishes social assistance and social insurance frameworks, creates institutional arrangements, and sets up a social protection fund. Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang called on stakeholders to close gaps limiting access to social protection programmes to ensure assistance reaches the intended beneficiaries.
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is tasked with implementing the new frameworks. Minister Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey said the ministry would prioritise effective implementation and monitoring to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods. She pledged to make the laws accessible through plain language and local-language translations, with outreach efforts across regions and districts to help citizens understand their rights and responsibilities.
“We will support institutions to comply by providing clear guidance, practical tools, reporting templates and training for the officers who apply these rules each day,” Dr Lartey said. She also promised to strengthen data systems to support fair beneficiary targeting, improve governance of the social protection fund, and establish accessible complaint channels that citizens could trust.
The frameworks aim to improve the delivery of social protection programmes and ensure that support reaches the most vulnerable populations. UNICEF’s call to link LEAP and PII reflects growing recognition that cash transfers alone cannot address the interconnected hardships faced by many Ghanaian households.
The government’s approach comes amid ongoing efforts to reduce poverty rates in Ghana, where social protection programmes have expanded over the past decade but gaps in coverage and coordination remain. The Social Protection Act and related regulations provide a legal basis for more consistent and integrated support.
The launch event in Accra brought together policymakers and development actors focused on social protection. Their challenge lies in turning legislative frameworks into practical, measurable outcomes for the families they intend to serve.
According to Joy Online.
