Collaborative governance in social protection programs in developing countries: evidence from Ghana

Abstract Social protection has increasingly become a central tool of governments to deal with vulnerabilities and poverty in society. In the context of policy and governance challenges, there has been a shift from a governance approach that focused extensively on governmental actors to one involving a multiplicity of actors in a process of collaborative governance. However, limited studies have been conducted in terms of how stakeholders have been collaborating with the government to enhance the effectiveness of policy and program development and implementation. Focusing on Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), one of Ghana’s flagship social protection programs, we present the collaborative implementation architecture that underpins the program’s implementation. Using data obtained mainly from secondary sources complemented with key informant interviews, within the framework of collaborative governance, we argue that the LEAP’s implementation architecture is a good example of collaborative governance and may account for its popularity. This article observes that the design and management of the LEAP program is shaped by vertical collaboration involving engagements between transnational actors and state officials observed at the deliberative and design stages, while the implementation and delivery of the program rely on horizontal collaboration that prioritizes the active involvement of beneficiary communities.