The government is set to expand the number of households benefiting from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme from 350,000 to 450,000 by the end of 2026.
The expansion, being implemented under a new initiative dubbed the ‘Big LEAP’, is intended to extend direct financial assistance to more households within the extreme poverty bracket.
The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, announced this at a community dialogue on social protection at Teshie on Thursday, September 10, 2026.
She said the initiative formed part of the government’s broader efforts to strengthen Ghana’s social protection system and ensure that vulnerable households receive support to cope with economic hardship.
“The Big LEAP is aimed at expanding coverage from 350,000 household beneficiaries to 450,000 by the end of 2026. It will cover more beneficiaries within the extreme poverty bracket,” she said.
Dr Lartey said the government recognised that poverty and vulnerability could prevent sections of the population from benefiting fully from national development, making targeted social protection interventions necessary.
“At the heart of social protection is a simple but important principle: no individual or family should be left out without support because of poverty, vulnerability or circumstances beyond their control,” she stated.
She noted that LEAP was part of a wider package of government interventions designed to improve access to basic services and strengthen household resilience.
These include the Ghana School Feeding Programme, National Health Insurance Scheme, Labour Intensive Public Works, Productive Inclusion and the Capitation Grant.
According to the Minister, while such programmes had contributed to improving access to essential services and supporting vulnerable groups, their effectiveness depended largely on whether eligible citizens could access them.
She therefore stressed the importance of engaging communities to identify information gaps and challenges preventing people from benefiting from government programmes.
“This community dialogue series is intended to bring government closer to communities, create space for citizens to share their experiences and ensure that concerns at the grassroots level inform policy,” she said.
Dr Lartey disclosed that similar social protection engagements had already been organised in five Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, with the Tema Metropolitan Assembly and Ledzokuku being among the latest areas covered during the week.
She said the engagements were also helping the Ministry to identify weaknesses in referral systems and better understand difficulties citizens face when seeking social protection services.
Beyond poverty-related concerns, the Minister said communities continued to face challenges including gender-based violence, child labour, human trafficking, limited access to information and illicit drug abuse.
She urged residents facing such challenges to seek assistance through the Ministry’s helplines and district social welfare offices.
Dr Lartey said sustained engagement with beneficiaries was essential to ensuring that social protection policies translated into meaningful support at the community level.
“Government cannot design and implement effective social protection interventions without listening to the people who are expected to benefit from them,” she said.
