The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MOGCSP) has taken bold measures to ensure effective coordination of social protection interventions that would empower vulnerable persons in the country.
This move is in line with the National Social Protection Policy (NSPP), which demands that gender-sensitive instruments must be applied during programme design, monitoring, data collection and evaluation.
The Sector Minister, Madam Lariba Zuweira Abudu, at a stakeholders’ engagement on Wednesday in Accra, said the interventions would help develop a national roadmap for mainstreaming gender into social protection programming and delivery.
According to her, the road map would help the ministry to analyze some gains made in programmes such as the LEAP, which shows about 55% of its beneficiaries are female-headed households.
“Just like the LEAP programme, other existing social protection programmes such as the Labour-Intensive Public Works (LIPW) and Complementary Livelihood Asset Support Scheme (CLASS) have the majority of their beneficiaries being women,” she added.
She added that the ministry was also mindful of areas where men are vulnerable and need the exercise to ensure various groups and classes are not left out in any shock responses of social protection programming and service delivery.
“These are good examples of why social protection programmes and delivery cannot be gender-blind. Gender sensitivity is vital for effective poverty and vulnerability reduction,” she stressed.
She noted that the ministry with technical and financial support from UNICEF is taking steps to strengthen Ghana’s social protection systems to be more gender-sensitive to shock responses.
Priscilla Nimako, ISD
