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In the past few years the nexus that link internal migration and poverty reduction has been a subject of interest among researchers and policy makers. Internal movements constitute a major coping mechanism in poverty stricken areas although the evidence supporting this claim is equivocal. This paper critically examines the extent to which internal migration could acts as an important route out of poverty in areas where conventional poverty reduction policies have failed by drawing on empirical literature on the north-south movement in Ghana. We argue that internal migration may not be a silver bullet in the fight against poverty. This position is premised on two strands of thought. First, migrants may not always be able to improve upon their livelihood, earn income and leap-out of the malaise of poverty and the impact of remittances may not also be straightforward. Secondly, the very poor in the places where conventional development efforts have had limited success may not always have the wherewithal to move as migration is shaped inter alia by institutional, market and financial resources.

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In this article, we argue that, if the poverty reduction inroads recorded from the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals could be optimized and sustained particularly in rural areas experiencing higher incidence of poverty and livelihood vulnerabilities, policymakers and development practitioners ought to look beyond cash transfer measures to embrace skills and technology transfer policies and programs. This approach has a greater tendency of creating appropriate context for the empowerment and enhancement of the production capacities of the poor in ways that guarantee their independence to engage in self‐help initiatives and resilient local livelihoods. This conclusion is drawn from comparative study outcomes of two Government of Ghana social policies for poverty reduction, namely—the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty and the Rural Enterprise Program.