Assessing the Assets and Welfare Conditions of the Left-Behind Migrant Households in the Ekumfi District of Ghana

Abstract

the study assessed the assets and welfare conditions of the left-behind migrant households in the Ekumfi District of Ghana during the absence of remittance receipts. The Asset-Based Welfare Paradigm informed the study. Using the multi-stage sampling procedure, 377 left-behind migrant household heads were sampled and administered with survey questionnaires. Descriptive statistical methods and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used for data analyses. This was supplemented with in-depth interviews from eight key informants. The results showed that apart from food, economic and financial indices, the other existing stocks of assets did not enhance the welfare conditions of the left-behind migrant households. The study concluded that generally left-behind migrant households had depriving assets and welfare conditions during the absence of remittance receipts. Additionally, government’s social intervention and development programmes enhanced the assets and welfare conditions of the left-behind migrant households. The study therefore recommended that the Government of Ghana should extend the provision of social support services beyond free healthcare and education and include basic asset indices such as housing, water, sanitation, economic, financial, food, gender equity and access to social organisation to cushion the welfare conditions of the left-behind migrant households during the absence of remittance receipts.