Implications of COVID-19 relief packages on livelihoods of rural dwellers in border towns along Southwestern Ghana
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Implications of COVID-19 relief packages on livelihoods of rural dwellers in border towns along Southwestern Ghana
The global efforts to curtail the livelihood crises brought about by the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic witnessed the adoption of livelihood strategies in the form of relief packages. Using a quantitative analytic framework, the article sheds light on recipients’ perspectives on the various government interventions in Ghana, focusing on how socio-economic and political inequalities in Ghana shaped access to pandemic relief support for rural dwellers in border towns in Southwestern Ghana. The findings suggest that, despite the partisan twist, the relief packages positively impacted intended beneficiaries in their short-term income-generation activities. Furthermore, it reduced the vulnerability of rural start-up businesses and brought the establishment of new health facilities to augment the infrastructural development of the area. The article concludes that the pandemic provided insight into how rural communities can better leverage relief packages to improve their livelihood conditions.
The study provides policy evidence for strengthening the design and implementation of emergency relief and social-protection programmes in Ghana. It demonstrates that COVID-19 relief packages helped sustain rural livelihoods, protect small businesses and, reduced socioeconomic vulnerability, but also identifies inequalities and political partisanship in access to state support. The findings underscore the need for decentralized, transparent, needs-based and, politically neutral mechanisms for delivering future emergency interventions, particularly to vulnerable rural and border communities.