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A Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR) to harmonise the registration of all social protection programmes in the country is in the offing.

The registry being set up by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, will target the poor and vulnerable who are beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, the Labour Intensive Public Works (LIPW) and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), among others, thus help to remove redundancy across the programmes.

The GNHR involves the registration of households and the collection of basic information on their socio-economic status. The data from the registry can then be shared across social protection programmes.

To ensure that the project was effectively rolled out, the Ministry has organised a two-day consensus building workshop in Wa, to establish the support systems based on which the National Targeting Unit (NTU), can roll out the process of data collection for the registry.

The workshop brought together over 60 key stakeholders from the Upper West Region, including the Regional Minister, Alhaji Amidu A. Sulemani, and decentralised authorities at the district level, who would be involved in the roll out. It was also attended by officials of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).

The workshop provided the needed orientation and initial training in preparation for a full-scale implementation of the GNHR.
Objectives of workshop

A key objective of the workshop was to meet with identifiable authorities in the region, present the GNHR programme and get their support for its implementation.

It was also to identify the decentralised structures of the government to help carry through the implementation process.
At the end of the workshop, participants agreed to support inter-institutional coordination to improve the impact of social spending and the elimination of duplication.

Among others, they also agreed on the need for the design and development of specific programmes targeted at vulnerable and/or low-income sectors.
Resolution

The participants endorsed guidelines for the establishment and operationalisation of regional, district and community social protection committees (RSPCC, DSPSs and CSPCs), and made the appropriate modifications and corrections for adoption.

They also agreed on their roles as gatekeepers and key stakeholders for ensuring effective and appropriate mobilisation of all the communities for enrolment and registration in the GNHR, specifically in the UWR.
Background

To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of social protection programmes, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection proposed the establishment of the GNHR.