Question

Discuss any 4 major social policies currently being implemented by the Government of Ghana

Answer 1

Meaning of social policy

Social policy can be defined as the policies formulated and implemented for the upliftment and improvement the standard of living of poor and financially backward people in the society.Social policies mainly aims to improve people's well being.Social policies are implemented for reducing poverty,reduce inequality and improve livelihood of people.

​​​​​​At present The Ghana National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) in collaboration with National Development Planning commission (NDPC) are developing the National Social Protection policy to help coordinate all the social protection programmes in Ghana.

In order to improve upon the livelihood of Ghanains the government of Ghana over the last decade has developed a number of developmental policies to eradicate poverty and improve the livelihood of people.

At present the country's social protection policies can be categorised into four types:

1. Policies for improvement of Livelihood and Food security:

Under this policy many strategies are implemented for elimination of child labour,to supply subsidised fertilizer and seeds to farmers , pension schemes for poor and old people.

2.Education:

Being Quality Education is the main motive of this policy. It mainly focuses on providing mid day meals to school children,providing free education to the poor children,providing free school uniforms and also free rations for girls.

3.Healthcare:

According to UNICEF research 3.65 million children in Ghana live in poverty and 1.2 million live in extreme poverty and are unable to meet their basic food needs.Malnutrition is among the key underlying causes of morality in children.So,to overcome this social policies are formulated to reduce nutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.Free maternal and child health care facilities are provided at free of cost to the poor.

4.Energy

Electricity cross subsidy are given to farmers and small scale industrialists to encourage them and thus helping on the overall development of the country.Apart from this many tax-exemptions and tax rebates are given to encourage poor people.

Thus, the fact that Ghana remains a lower income country and battles with diseases, unemployment,hunger and poverty the country continue to explore new possible ways to implement social protection policies and also achieved its goal to some extent .