The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, has begun a three-day working visit to the Northern and North East regions to monitor the ongoing Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) beneficiary enrolment exercise and engage key stakeholders on the implementation of the programme.

The Minister is accompanied by members of the Ministry's Advisory Board and senior management staff as part of the exercise, which is aimed at assessing the progress of the nationwide LEAP enrolment and expansion programme.

As part of the first day's activities, Dr Lartey paid a courtesy call on the Chief of Fuo, Abdulai Neindow, in the Sagnarigu Municipality before visiting the community's LEAP enrolment centre.

At the enrolment centre, she interacted with beneficiaries, registration officials and community members while observing the registration process to assess the efficiency of operations and ensure that eligible households are enrolled in a transparent and orderly manner.

Addressing the media, the Minister said the monitoring exercise forms part of the Ministry's commitment to ensuring the successful implementation of the expanded LEAP programme, which seeks to enrol an additional 400,000 beneficiary households across the country.

She explained that the exercise provides an opportunity to assess field operations, identify operational challenges and implement timely interventions to improve service delivery.

Dr Lartey also highlighted the importance of the nationwide LEAP reassessment, noting that it is intended to update beneficiary data, strengthen the integrity of the programme and ensure that support reaches the most vulnerable households.

According to her, the reassessment will help minimise inclusion and exclusion errors while promoting fairness, accountability and effective targeting of social protection interventions.

The Minister's three-day tour will also include engagements with stakeholders across the Northern and North East regions, as well as a visit to the Gambaga Alleged Witches Camp.