The exercise, which is expected to be replicated nationwide after the successful implementation of the exercise in the three northern regions, would be a registry of all households in Ghana.
Mr Robert E. Austin, the National Coordinator of the Ghana Social Opportunities Project (GSOP), who said this at a stakeholders’ forum, called on the stakeholders including all the thirteen Municipal and District Chief Executives and Coordinating Directors in the Region to support the implementation of the project.
The forum was also attended by the Regional Minister, his deputy, the Regional Coordinating Director, a team from the Ministry of MoGCSP and the World Bank.
The forum was to brief the stakeholders on the benefit of the GNHR and to solicit their support in the implementation of the project.
The National Coordinator said the GNHR Project which is being funded by the World Bank in collaboration with the Government of Ghana would facilitate the identification of extremely poor and vulnerable households.
“Data from the Registry will be used for social intervention programs such as LEAP, Free Health Insurance, Labour Intensive Public Works (LIPW), Ghana School Feeding Programme, and the Free School Uniform Programme among others”, Mr Austin said.
The exercise would coordinate the different social protection interventions and provide data to all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies that may need data in their respective endeavours as well as serve as data for development partners who want to help in the development process of the country, he said.
Mr Austin said 390 Enumerators and 180 Community Focal Persons would be engaged in the Upper East Region to help collect data for the GNHR and the Districts would be tasked to assist in the recruitment of personnel to undertake the exercise which is supposed to commence fully in January 2017 and complete in October 2017.
Mr Mawutor Ablo, the Director in charge of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation of the MoGESP, said the GNHR would help in facilitating a more effective and efficient social protection system that had a good potential of contributing to the progress already made in the poverty reduction strategy of the country.
“The GNHR will require the support of all to succeed. Ghanaians must respond to the call to participate in the registration exercise to enable the delivery of a credible Single National Registry that will inure to the benefit of all”, he said.
Mr Albert Abongo, the Regional Minister, pledged the Regional Coordinating Council’s support of the implementation of the project and said as one of the poorest regions in the country, it needed more social protection systems to help bridge the poverty gap.
He called on all the thirteen Municipal and District Chief Executives and the District Coordinators to pay special attention to the implementation of the project.