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The Government has released GH�4,854,330 which is the arrears for the November/December 2012 Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme. The money will be paid to beneficiaries in 72,642 households in 99 districts in the country. Payment of grants will begin from Wednesday, July 31 to Friday, August 2, 2013 and will be channelled through Ghana Post offices in the respective districts. The National Coordinator of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPC), Mr Stephen Adongo, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection had already given a cheque to the Director of Financial Services. The LEAP is a conditional cash transfer that gives poor families monetary and moral incentives to fully utilise public services for their development, especially in terms of nutrition, health and education. In line with its National social protection strategy, the Government of Ghana started implementing the LEAP which was based on the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II) of the country in 2007. It started with a five-year pilot experience in which the main components were conditional, and unconditional cash transfers were made to orphan and vulnerable children (OVC), the elderly above 65 years old and the disabled. The government projected to extend the programme to reach about 160,000 families living in extreme poverty in the next five years. Mr Adongo explained that now that the 2012 arrears had been cleared, the government would work around the clock to ensure the payment of grants for January/February 2013. Each beneficiary receives GH�8.00 and that may increase to GH�15,00, depending on the number of beneficiaries in the family (to a maximum of four). Payments are made every two months through the country�s post offices.