The Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR), a unit under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection with the mandate to compile a single household register from which all social protection programmes in Ghana will select their beneficiaries, will commence its data collection activities in the Northern, North East and Savanna Regions of Ghana in 2020. This was made known by the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Hon. Cynthia Mamle Morrison at a sensitization workshop held in Tamale for political and administrative heads of the three regions.
Speaking at the workshop, the Minister announced that the GNHR data collection exercise is part of the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project (GPNSP) being implemented by government with the support of the World Bank and DFID. She said the GNHR will use the census approach to collect data on an estimated total of Three Hundred and Eighty Seven Thousand households (387, 000) in the three regions. Hon. Cynthia Mamle Morrison indicated that Government’s vision of moving Ghana beyond aid calls for a scientific quantification of the poor to enable the state know where they are and readily assist in lifting them from poverty. She told stakeholders at the workshop that the sanctity and quality of the Ghana National Household Registry’s data will be very paramount in the achievement of this laudable vision as the data from the Registry will help give poverty a name, face, location and identity known by the state. She, therefore, called on the Regional Ministers, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives and Coordinating Directors to help facilitate the process of community entry of the GNHR team, provide office space, logistics and any other assistance that would enable the team carry out a successful exercise in the three regions.
The Honourable Minister also appealed to all stakeholders in the country to embrace and actively participate in the nationwide GNHR registration exercise to ensure that social benefits are effectively and efficiently targeted at the poor and vulnerable in the country. This, she believes, can help create a harmonious society in which the survival and development of the sexes, children, the vulnerable, and persons with disability are guaranteed. The Northern Regional Minister, Hon. Salifu Saeed on behalf of the Savannah and North East Regional Ministers, called on the planning units of the various MMDAs to make good use of the data that will be generated by the GNHR to advise and inform policy and developmental planning in their respective MMDAs. Dr. Charles Kesse, the Director for Research at the Local Government Service, in a speech read on behalf of the Head of Local Government Service, said the GNHR data will significantly help local government practitioners in the development of their Medium Term Development Plans and Annual Action Plans.
He indicated that, the GNHR data will end the era of approximation of numbers as Planning Officers in the various MMDAs can now use the data to accurately project into the future. Dr. Kesse urged the various MMDAs within the regions to make good use of the data for their policy planning and research. Dr. Prosper Laari, National Coordinator for the Ghana National Household Registry, gave an overview of the GNHR and its roll out strategy for the three regions. He assured stakeholders present that with their support and collaboration, the GNHR will compile a credible household register that will ensure that a larger share of benefits of social programmes goes to the poorest and the most vulnerable in Ghana. He therefore, called on all stakeholders to collaborate with the GNHR to work towards a successful implementation of the exercise in their respective regions and districts.
