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Ghana has implemented different kinds of pro-poor program and policies since its independence to reduce poverty. The Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) is one of such program. LEAP is a social cash transfer program and its implementation has been under the auspices of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection since 2008. It provides direct cash and health insurance coverage for extremely poor households across the country to alleviate short-term poverty and encourage long-term human capital development. This paper examines the LEAP program in terms of how it has achieved its aim and the opportunities for improvement.

Primary data were obtained from interviews of 110 beneficiaries of the program. The study proposes a conceptual framework that links poverty reduction and social policies to assist researchers analyze pro-poor or social cash transfer program.

The findings show that the program is challenged with administrative bureaucracies, irregular inflow of funds, perceived political interferences, inconsistent implementation strategies and low value of the cash transfer (which results in little or no impact on consumption). However, the data also show that LEAP has positive impacts on nonconsumption spending like children's schooling. The program' exit strategy does not impact much on beneficiaries to allow them exit without the tendency of being poor.

This paper discussed the LEAP program as a social cash transfer to the poor in Ghana. The study constructed a conceptual framework to help researchers and practitioners analyze the implementation of pro-poor interventions. This conceptualization allows for cash transfer program to empower beneficiaries and exits them to allow for other beneficiaries to enroll, ensuring reduction in poverty over time. Generally, the beneficiaries have benefited from the LEAP in the areas of consumption, education and healthcare with few beneficiaries being able to accumulate some few assets. The LEAP program has no exit plan.

This study adds to literature by offering a conceptual framework to help researchers and policy makers in dealing with social assistance policies to the poor. The study also gave an insight into how pro-poor policy strategies could be crafted.

Personal financial stress-free living is desired by many, which dwells on sound financial literacy (including financial behaviour, financial knowledge and financial attitude). Many individuals do not make optimal savings and investment decisions. The realisation that these choices may well lead to low living standards has also increased economic anxiety, especially in Sub-Sahara African countries, including Ghana. Thus, this study underscores the link between financial literacy and financial distress in Ghana. It establishes whether persons that are financially literate escape financial distress in their life.

The paper engages nationally representative survey data and adopts a positivist research approach with logistic regression analysis to establish the likelihood of financial literate persons experiencing financial distress.

This study establishes that financially literate individuals are 2.4% less likely to experience financial distress. Socioeconomic characteristics greatly influence the probability of one experiencing financial hardship. It submits that policy can be directed towards improving financial habits (financial literacy) to enhance individuals' financial behaviour to lessen personal financial distress.

Not much attention has been paid to whether financial literacy has a nexus with financial distress. Few studies (not on Sub-Saharan Africa) that have looked at this are done, neglecting a sensitivity analysis of socioeconomic characteristics in establishing the relations. However, this current study dwells on econometric analysis to establish the margin or extend to which a financially literate person may or may not escape financial distress given his/her socioeconomic characteristics.

This study aims to investigate how ICT adoption enhances the innovativeness of informal firms in West Africa, using the cases of Ghana and Nigeria.

The study used the World Bank Enterprise Survey data 2014 for Ghana and Nigeria with binary logistic regression analysis to achieve this. Four different innovations are modelled. They include: first, whether a firm has innovated based on producing a new product or significantly improved product; second, whether a firm has innovated in its methods of production or services; third, whether a firm has innovated in terms of its organisational structure; and fourth, whether a firm has introduced a new and improved marketing method.

The results show that the use of email, cellphone and website has a positive impact on the four types of innovations modelled. However, these effects varied markedly between Ghana and Nigeria. Firms’ spending on research and development (R&D), firm giving its employees the chance to develop their ideas and when firm competes with others; all positively impact the four types of innovations. Thus, the study recommends that policies should be geared towards making firms have more access to ICTs to enable them to be more innovative to serve clients and the economy.

This study differs by concentrating on how the adoption of ICTs could help firms to introduce innovations into their companies in two West African countries, namely, Ghana and Nigeria. Thus, it complements literature on informal firms’ innovation efforts in West Africa.

This study aims to explore how government ICT use influences the relationship between ICT access and public sector performance globally. Previous research has mainly focused on the impact of ICT access on private firms' performance, measured by profitability. Moreover, previous studies have mostly examined the effect of ICT access on firms' performance within a single country. This study fills a gap in the literature by investigating how government ICT use mediates the connection between ICT access and public sector performance on a global scale.

The study develops and empirically validates a conceptual model based on the Technology, Organisation-Environment framework and archival data for 131 countries, using partial least squares-structural equation modelling.

The findings from the study shows a significant relationship between ICT access and Government ICT use. Also, there was positive relationship between ICT access and Public Sector Performance. In addition, there exist a significant relationship between Government use of ICT and Public Sector Performance. Furthermore, the mediating role of government ICT use on the impact of ICT access on public sector performance was significant.

This study is unique in that it explores the relationship between ICT access, government ICT use and public sector performance on a global scale. By using archival sources, this research findings can easily be replicated and applied to a larger population. Additionally, using the TOE framework, this study demonstrates how technology (ICT access) and organisation (government ICT use) impact public sector performance globally.