Social Protection in Ghana An overview of existing programmes and their prospects and challenges By Joyce Abebrese Table of Content 1. Introduction 3 2. Social Protection- What does that mean? 4 3. Social Protection in Ghana 3.1. Previous forms of Social Protection in Ghana 5 3.2. SSNIT 5 3.3. Highly Indebted Poor Country(HIPC) Initiative 7 3.4. National Social Protection Strategy(NSPS) and Ghana 7 Poverty Reduction Strategy(GPRS) 3.4.1. National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS) 8 3.4.2. Ghana School Feeding Programme(GSFP) 9 3.4.3. Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty(LEAP) 10 3.4.4. Bolsa Familia in Brazil and its influence on LEAP 10 3.5. Other Social Protection Programmes in Ghana 11 4. Challenges and Prospects of Social Protection in Ghana 11 4.1. Challenges 11 4.1.1. The Case of NHIS – A Failure of Implementation? 16 4.2. Prospects 17 5. Conclusion 18 6. Selected References 19