The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Committee has met Heads of Departments in the Akuapem North Municipality, community focal persons, and various stakeholders to discuss the itinerary for Community Information and Communication (CIC) education and visitations.

The initiative aims to prepare for the new validation of the LEAP register as part of the reassessment programme in the municipality.

Miss Rosemary Amoako Gyese, the Akuapem North Municipal Assistant LEAP Focal Person of the Social Welfare Department, told the Ghana News Agency that the primary objective was to visit the 32 LEAP communities to provide comprehensive education on the criteria for selecting beneficiaries.

This will help community members better understand if the validation process starts.

She said since LEAP’s inception in 2008, there had not been a reassessment, which ideally should occur every four years.

She said the Akuapem North Municipality launched its LEAP programme in 2016, and no validation or reassessment had taken place.

She noted that the reassessment team would conduct community outreach to ensure that the real marginalised and extremely poor individuals have the opportunity to benefit from the programme.

Moreover, Miss Gyese said that ” individuals who were excluded or experienced difficulties answering questions during household registration will also be reassessed and potentially re-enrolled in the scheme to ensure accurate data collection. ”

She mentioned that the LEAP team in collaboration with the Social Welfare and Community Development Departments, had established a monitoring mechanism that aims to ensure that logistics, materials, and funds allocated for the welfare of beneficiaries are utilized effectively.

” Currently, the data from the Social Welfare Department indicates that there are 574 total LEAP beneficiaries, which include 154 extremely poor individuals, with over 300 graduates who are thriving, ” she said.