Is social protection in Ghana a right?

ABSTRACT

Through an analysis of Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, this article examines the extent to which national governments have embraced the rights-based approach to social assistance. Based on interviews with beneficiary households and policymakers at national and sub-national levels, it finds that although official policy documents depict the LEAP in rights-based terms, beneficiaries see it as a charitable programme. The article concludes that if the LEAP is to play a stronger role in promoting citizenship rights in Ghana, it is important to strengthen district level structures to investigate and redress beneficiaries’ complaints in a timely manner.

KEYWORDS:

• Labour and livelihoods – Poverty reduction
• Rights
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, UK. He holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge (UK) and a PhD in Development Policy and Management from the University of Manchester.

Abdul-Bassit Abubakari holds an MPhil in Public Administration from the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), and is a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management at the UGBS.

Jude Martey holds an MPhil in Public Administration from the University of Ghana Business School, Accra.

ORCID

Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6383-035X