The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says linking Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme with the Productive Inclusion Initiative (PII) could reduce extreme poverty by 2.5 percentage points by 2030.

The organisation is urging the government to ensure that social protection laws translate into tangible support for vulnerable households.

The call was made at the launch of the Social Protection Act, 2025, and the Social Protection and Affirmative Action Regulations in Accra on October 7, 2026.

UNICEF welcomed the Act’s emphasis on coordination and complementarity, saying stronger links between social protection programmes could help address the multiple challenges facing vulnerable families.

“We have evidence that when paired, the LEAP and PII programs have the potential to reduce extreme poverty by two and a half percentage points by 2030,” the organisation said.

UNICEF illustrated the need for coordinated support with the example of a young mother whose household struggles with limited income and the cost of essential services.

“She may be struggling with her income but also with the cost of nutritious food, access to health care, child care, skills, education, employment,” it said.

The example highlights how vulnerable households can face several interconnected challenges that cash assistance alone may not fully address.

The Social Protection Act provides for social assistance and social insurance, establishes institutional arrangements and creates a social protection fund.

Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has urged stakeholders to address gaps that limit access to social protection programmes to ensure assistance reaches its intended beneficiaries.

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is responsible for implementing the frameworks.

Sector Minister Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey assured that the ministry would prioritise effective implementation and monitoring to help alleviate poverty and improve livelihoods.

She said the ministry would make the laws accessible through clear language and local-language translations, with outreach across regions and districts to help citizens understand their rights and responsibilities.

“We will support institutions to comply by providing clear guidance, practical tools, reporting templates and training for the officers who apply these rules each day,” she said.

Dr Lartey added that the ministry would strengthen data systems to support fair beneficiary targeting, improve governance of the social protection fund and establish accessible complaint channels that citizens could trust.

The frameworks are expected to improve the delivery of social protection programmes and help ensure support reaches vulnerable people who need it most.