Coverage of non-receipt of cash transfer (Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty) and associated factors among older persons in the Mampong Municipality Ghana – a quantitative analysis

摘要

Social assistance in the form of a cash transfer (CT) or in-kind has been recognised as a social protection strategy in tackling poverty and providing financial protection for individuals and households. Though social protection was missing under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it was recognised as a tool for alleviating poverty under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Social protection is influential in achieving a wider range of development goals such as health, social inclusion and poverty reduction [1]. It is estimated that at least 45.0% of the world’s population benefits from one social protection programme or the other. As of 2015, about 71.0% of the world’s population had not received the full range of benefits stemming from child and family benefits to old-age pensions [2]. The origin of social protection interventions is attributed to the western world where its role in meeting the MDGs has been well documented in countries such as the United States, Britain and Germany [3]. In developing countries, social protection has gradually found its place on the developmental agenda, and the African continent is not excluded from the rise and institutionalisation of social protection across the various continents in the world. According to the African Union (AU), social protection is defined as “a “package“ of policies and programmes with the aim of reducing poverty and vulnerability of large segments of the population” [4]. Social protection policies include cash transfers. Despite the gradual increase and extent of social protection programmes across continents, only a small portion of these interventions address the needs of older persons [3].