Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs aim to alleviate short term poverty and reduce
intergenerational poverty by supplying targeted poor households with cash transfers contingent
upon certain program parameters, such as school attendance for children. Evaluation on CCTs
have found that such programs generally increase school enrolment and school attendance but its
subsequent effect on labor market participation is only assumed without sufficient evidence.
CCTs have since its inauguration in Latin America in late 1990s gained worldwide diffusion. In
the case of Ghana, that is the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program. This
study aims to inquire into structural barriers and constraints in the educational system and
prevailing labor market structures, as identified through a case-driven case study with 20
interviewed benefitting Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) and supported with macrostatistics
and existing research, that influence the success of LEAP in breaking chronic poverty
in Ghana. The concept of chronic poverty and informal economy underpins the analysis that
finds that (1) LEAP can only have limited effect on educational attainment as income and
geographical disparities within the educational system disadvantage rural poor in terms of the
level and quality of education they reach and receive, and (2) within the prevailing labor market
structure in Ghana, education can only have significant impact on type of occupation, sector of
employment and income for a few highly educated urban residents. This study maintains that
without reforms in education and labor markets, LEAP will have little effect on breaking chronic
poverty in Ghana.