Abstract
Social protection programmes are increasingly becoming the conduit for minimizing poverty and social exclusion across the world. Social protection schemes have been found to be efficient in minimizing vulnerability of poor families, hunger and extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan African countries. Nonetheless, about 437 million people in Sub-Saharan African countries live in extreme poverty. Ghana, like other SSA countries, has implemented several social protection programmes to reduce poverty. However, a quarter of the 30 million population live in abject poverty. This brief explores the role of social protection programmes, specifically the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programme (LEAP), in poverty reduction from the perspective of beneficiaries. The findings of the paper suggest that the programme must be reviewed to leverage local market opportunities and incentives, available for beneficiaries. This would ensure predictability of income and sustainability of the impact of the programme.