The Impact of Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (Leap) on Its Beneficiaries in the Ga East Municipality in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find the impact of Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) on its beneficiaries in the Ga East Municipality in the Greater Accra Region. The explorative and descriptive research designs were used in this study. Data was collected through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The multi-stage and snow ball sampling methods were used to select 90 respondents for the study. This study found that the program had captured more than 1,000 individuals from 207 households onto the LEAP program. Some of these beneficiaries had relatives who were indirectly benefiting from the amounts that they received every two months. It was also found that there were 300 additional relatives of the 90 respondents who were indirectly benefiting from the LEAP as they were either being taken care of or their fees were paid by the beneficiaries. The LEAP money was used by the beneficiaries for trading activities, paying the school fees of their children and the orphans who lived with them, and others used the money solely for feeding. It was concluded that the implementation of the LEAP in the Ga East Municipality had helped in improving the conditions of the beneficiaries even though few shortcomings like delays in payment of the LEAP money were encountered by the. The study recommends among others that officials of LEAP at the Municipal level should ensure that the beneficiaries get the information of their payment dates in time and subsequently get their LEAP money at the right time without any delay.