Devote enough funds to social protection programmes - SEND Ghana to govt

A non-governmental organisation, SEND Ghana has urged government to commit adequate funds to social protection programmes in the country.

Latest survey by the NGO shows that Ghanaians are interested in holding government officials accountable for funds invested in various social projects.

Country Director of SEND Ghana, George Osei-Bimpeh therefore called on government to devote enough financial resources to some social protection programs.

“Transparency and accountability in the management of existing programs, citizens want the opaque nature to be improved upon so that they can hold duty bearers accountable.

The last issue is about devoting financial resources to existing programs because the issue of expanding the coverage, issue of efficiency, the issue of ensuring that people get effective social protection service is a function of how much resources the country devotes to that,”he told Citi News after a forum to analyse the 2020 Political Party Manifestos on Social Protection.

The analysis touched on sectors such as Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, National Health Insurance Scheme, Ghana School Feeding Programme, Capitation Grant, Ghana National Household Registry, Labor Intensive Public Works, Legal/Framework Awareness of Social Protection Programmes, Financing Social Protection, Education, Persons with Disability, Women, Children, and Adolescent Girls.

About the citizens manifesto

In collaboration with the CSO platform on the SDGs/SDG10, the Social Accountability Forum, and the Civil Society Platform on Social Protection, SEND Ghana led the organization of stakeholder consultations and the compilation of inputs into the citizens’ manifesto on social protection programs and policies last year.

The main objective was to influence the manifesto of the key political parties by adopting proposals made by citizens in addressing social protection issues and implementation and secondly to serve as a reference document to hold political parties /government accountable for the proper implementation of social protection programs.