5 Things You Should Know About Ghana's Social Protection Policy

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has been mandated to coordinate all social interventions in Ghana. In 2016, the ministry with support from other stakeholders developed and launched the National Social Protection Policy (NSPP) which is expected to facilitate the empowerment of the extreme poor, vulnerable and excluded to contribute to national development.

The ministry has also developed a draft social protection policy implementation plan to guide the implementation of the policy. To ensure delivery of Social Protection (SP) in a more effective, efficient and holistic manner, the ministry in collaboration with UNICEF has engaged key stakeholders on a sensitization workshop on the components of the social protection policy and implementation plan as well as their roles to facilitate sustainable implementation. The engagement was completed in November, 2017. The following are the five (5) things you should know about this National Social Protection Policy:

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1. Definition of Social Protection in the Policy

The Policy defines Social Protection as, “range of actions carried by the state and other parties in response to vulnerability and poverty, which seek to guarantee relief for those sections of the population who for any reason are not able to provide for themselves”. Speaking in one of the sensitization workshop in Koforidua, the Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon Gifty Twum Ampofo said the policy seeks to address the numerous challenges Social Protection programs face. “The challenge is uncoordinated institutional arrangements and overlaps in program coverage and these challenges would be surely addressed by the policy” she added

2. Programmes in the Policy

The National Social Protection Policy has five Programmes;

The livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty(LEAP)

The Labor intensive public works (LIPW) Programme

The National Health Insurance Exemptions

The Ghana School Feeding Programme

The Education Capitation Grant for Basic Schools

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3. The Goals of the Policy

All the programmes in the policy seek to achieve 3 Goals and they are;

Provide effective and efficient social assistance to reduce extreme poverty

Promote productive inclusion to sustain families and communities

Increase access to formal social security and social insurance

4. The Policy is in line with 7 out of 17 SDGs

All these are to help the government’s efforts to achieve the SDGs in Ghana. The National Social Protection Policy captures Goal 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 of the SDGs. Clearly, the Government of Ghana has adopted Social Protection as a tool to address poverty, vulnerability and exclusion which at the end contributes hugely to the attainment of the Global Agenda (SDGs)

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5. Attributes of the Policy

The three key attributes of the Ghana National Social Protection Policy;

Provides a framework for coherent, effective and efficient action in ways that are holistic and properly targeted

Outlines the institutional framework for coordination and stakeholder collaboration in social protection delivery

Provides a means for the nation to fulfill its national and international obligations for social protection

In conclusion, Dr. Esther Ofei Aboagye, consultant at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection speaking at one of the sensitization workshop stated that, “the primary responsibility of social protection rests on the government, but the government cannot do it alone and would need the support of NGOs and development partners”. Hence, she called on NGOs to integrate or align their work with the social protection policy and also educate the general public and the beneficiaries about the National Social Protection Policy.

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