The Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MoGCSP) will begin the 40th cycle of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme payments to beneficiary households from January 25 to January 29, 2016.

LEAP, which is currently being implemented by the MoGCSP, is aimed at providing a safety net for the extremely poor and most marginalised households, notably the bottom 20% of the extreme poor in Ghana.

Beneficiaries of LEAP 1000, which is targeted at pregnant women and children less than one year old, will also receive their third cash transfer in three districts in the Upper East and seven districts in the Northern region.

Currently, 6,124 beneficiaries from the ten regions are benefiting from the programme.

The LEAP programme manager, Mr Dzigbordi Kofi Agbekpornu, disclosed that there had been an increase in the number of beneficiary households for the 40th cycle from that of the previous payment in November 2015.

Mr Agbekpornu noted that LEAP payments had been regular and consistent since the last quarter of 2013 and that there were absolutely no arrears owed to beneficiaries.

He disclosed that the Ministry would roll out the 14th electronic payments nationwide for quick and effective transfer of cash to the beneficiaries, adding that the e-payment system would also deliver an efficient and timely generation of payment reports for the LEAP programme.

“The e-payment by GHIPSS will be done in 15 districts during the 40th payment cycle and is expected to cover all LEAP payment districts by March 2016 when the 41st cycle payment will be conducted,” he said.

Mr Agbekpornu also disclosed that another impact assessment, as conducted by the Institute for Social, Statistical and Economic Research (ISSER) and the North Carolina University in 2012, was underway.