The Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR) is set to begin the collection of data in the three northern regions.

The move is part of measures by the Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry to update its data on the poor and vulnerable in the regions.

National Coordinator, Dr Prosper Laari said the Registry is targeting about 387,000 households in the Northern, North East and Savannah regions.

As the Covid-19 pandemic has rendered many people vulnerable, there is the need to upgrade data on vulnerable groups to reflect the present status of target beneficiaries of social protection programmes.

Out of the 387,000 households being targeted, 241,000 are in the Northern region alone and 73,000 in both the North East and regions.

He said the GNHR has successfully registered 137,565 households in the Upper West and 184,125 household in the Upper East regions. 

Addressing Information officers from Northern, Savanna and North East regions who were undergoing training ahead of the registration exercise, Dr Laari said the engagement with the Information Service Department was to help with the public campaign. 

In the Upper West region, he said 66 percent were categorized as extremely poor while 28 percent was recorded in the Upper East region for the same category.

Dr Laari added that 18 percent of people in the Upper West region were characterised as poor while 28 percent of Upper East region’s population was given the same classification.

Sixteen and 35 percent of the remaining population were categorized as non-poor in both regions.

Dr Laari said the data will not only provide information on social protection issues but will also help local government authorities to have baseline information for their agenda.

He said academia, research institutions, civil society groups and the general public will also be able to use the data for their works.

Dr Laari added that the GHHR extensive database will be essential for optimizing programme delivery and ensuring that services are delivered to the right people in the right places in a timely manner.