The primary scope of the project was to carry out a feasibility study on the different delivery mechanisms available in Ghana for LEAP payments and the extent to which these can be leveraged to offer access to financial services. ExactConsult undertook and delivered a feasibility study addressing options related to the current means of delivery via the post office as well as debit and smart cards and mobile phones and provided suggestions for possible pilot(s) that could be implemented. Each option identified was explored in depth and covered inter alia:
The administrative arrangements of the partied involved
Delivery of benefits
Estimates on the costs of delivery including both set-up and running costs
Beneficiary authentication process and the cost of authentication
Degree of efficiency gains in terms of decreased corruption and leakage, and less time for beneficiaries to receive payments
Frequency of payments possible
Level of human resource capacity required from each of the providers, compared with the current levels already used
Potential challenges in beneficiary acceptance of mechanism and ease of usage
Ease of access for the beneficiaries, including any costs related to access
Degree of beneficiary education needed
Time needed to begin a pilot rollout