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Development partners meet Gender Minister on Ghana’s Social Protection agenda
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Development Partners working in the social protection space have met with the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, to deepen collaboration and support efforts to address growing vulnerabilities among Ghana’s population.
Development partners including UNICEF, the World Bank and the Foreign Commonwealth Development Organization, sought to explore strategic ways of improving the design, coordination, and financing of social protection (SP) programmes in Ghana.
Discussions centred on key priorities such as increasing the national budget allocation for social protection, implementing reforms under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme and the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), and introducing future increases in LEAP cash grants as part of efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
Development Partners highlighted the importance of operationalising the LEAP Indexation Mechanism, a benchmark introduced under the IMF programme to ensure that benefits are indexed to inflation and gradually cover at least 20% of household consumption.
The meeting also touched on the ongoing LEAP reassessment, the development of a shock-responsive SP strategy, and the need for a strong and inclusive national social registry that supports policy targeting and programme delivery.
Emphasis was placed on building partnerships with the private sector to enhance delivery and sustainability of social protection systems in Ghana.
Particular attention was given to interventions aimed at vulnerable groups, including adolescent girls.
The partners expressed interest in empowerment programmes, development of tools to combat teenage pregnancy, and strategies to engage boys and promote positive masculinity as part of the broader gender equality agenda.
Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey reaffirmed government’s commitment, led by President John Dramani Mahama, to ensuring that social protection is given the priority and visibility it deserves in public policy.
She stressed the importance of collaboration among government institutions to deliver integrated services, and called for improved coordination across programmes through tools that allow institutions to access and utilize data from the social registry.
The Sector Minister also emphasized government’s dedication to strengthening gender-responsive policies, ensuring that both boys and girls are not left behind in the drive for equality and sustainable development.
Development Partners welcomed government’s renewed commitment and pledged continued support in areas such as technical assistance, capacity building, policy development, and resource mobilization to ensure that social protection reaches all who need it – especially in the face of rising poverty and widening regional inequalities.
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Energy has appealed to the Ministry of Finance to release GH¢5.6 million to the Petroleum Commission to enable it to establish and operate a world-class data centre.
According to the Committee, access to the funds will strengthen the Commission’s capacity to manage critical upstream petroleum data and improve its operations.
Speaking during the appeal, Chairman of the Committee, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, said the move was crucial to efforts to revitalise Ghana’s upstream petroleum industry and increase oil production.
He noted that although investment and hydrocarbon production had declined in recent years, Parliament’s approval of an extension of the petroleum agreement to 2030 had attracted additional funding and contributed to an increase in production from about 80,000 to 120,000 barrels per day.
Meanwhile, concerns have been raised over repeated budget allocations for oil exploration in the Voltaian Basin.
Mr. Bedzrah stressed that funds approved for exploration must produce tangible results, adding that the Committee would require clear evidence of progress before supporting future budget allocations for the programme.
The appeal was made during a working visit to the Petroleum Commission as part of the Committee’s oversight activities to assess its operations and management procedures.
During the engagement, the Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Emeafa Hardcastle, took the Committee through the Commission’s working procedures and mandate, which includes regulating, managing and coordinating upstream petroleum activities.
She disclosed that since assuming office in 2025, government had pursued measures to reverse the decline in crude oil production, sustain output and reposition Ghana as an attractive destination for investment in Africa’s increasingly competitive petroleum sector.
In addition, she said government had secured fresh commitments of about US$35 billion to help revitalise the sector.
As part of the oversight exercise, the Committee is expected to conclude its monitoring visit with engagements at the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL).
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
News
“No civilisation deserves to be annihilated” – Mahama calls for dialogue on global conflicts at UNGA 81
President John Dramani Mahama has called for solidarity and dialogue in resolving global conflicts, insisting that no civilisation deserves to be wiped out.
“No human civilisation deserves to be annihilated, certainly not a member state of the United Nations,” President Mahama stated in his address at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
He called for solidarity with nations facing terrorism, especially the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), and for a uniform approach to conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
On the Middle East, the President called for a return to negotiations, saying “The current Middle East crisis is having a deleterious effect on the world economy.”
“I believe that dialogue can resolve even the most intractable of problems,” he added.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
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