Gender Minister assures partners of support for the vulnerable

Ms Sarah Adwoa Safo, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has assured the Ministry's development partners of government's resolve to provide equal opportunities for the vulnerable to achieve gender equality.

She has, therefore, called for maximum support from the partners to enable the Ministry to scale up its social protection programme; the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), to reach the targeted number of 1.5 million Ghanaians across the country.

Ms Safo gave the assurance when she met with Heads of Cooperation of UK AID, the World Bank, the United Nation's Resident Coordinator, and country directors of the United Nations Population Fund, United Nation's Children Fund and UNESCO in Accra.

The meeting was to afford the Minister and the partners the opportunity to discuss issues of interest and renew commitment towards assisting the country in attaining gender equality and offer adequate support for the vulnerable, a statement issued and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said on Monday.

It was also to enhance relationship with the development partners who had, over the years, worked in collaboration with the Ministry in improving issues relating to the vulnerable in society by offering support for specific programmes and projects.

Ms Safo said the Ministry was counting on the partners’ support to scale up the social safety programme, the LEAP, which was instituted to benefit the poorest households in all regions of Ghana.

"We are as always counting on your support to scale up the social safety programme, which will benefit the poorest households in all regions of Ghana by providing cash transfers to 350,000 households through the LEAP, reaching 1.5 million individuals," she said.

The main aim was to ensure that the Affirmative Action and Aged Persons bills were passed and the Ghana Social Protection Policy and Bill reviewed this year, Ms Safo said, to strengthen the rights of the vulnerable.

She, therefore, appealed to the partners to provide the needed support to ensure that the legislative frameworks materialised.

"It is our hope that you will aid us push these bills and other legislative frameworks to safeguard and protect the rights of the vulnerable in the country," the Minister said.

She pledged her commitment to enhancing inter-ministerial and inter-agency collaboration, especially between her Ministry and the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development and the Ministry of Health.

The Minister, also the Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, commended the partners for their continuous support to government's COVID-19 relief efforts.

“Your dedication to all our endeavours has been critical to the development of the nation and I assure you that this government is committed to ensuring gender equality and equal opportunities for all persons, especially the most vulnerable in our society" she said.

The development partners on their part assured the Minister of their commitment to supporting the Government's quest to protect the most vulnerable.

They promised to ensure the completion of the registration of the extreme poor under Ghana National Household Registry to cover all 16 regions and acknowledged that only five regions had so far been covered.