From Innovation to Impact: Next Steps for the Millennium Challenge Corporation

Sheila Herrling, Molly Kinder, and Steve Radelet

01/16/2009

As the Obama administration takes office this month, it will be looking for ways to elevate development as a third pillar of U.S. foreign policy—alongside diplomacy and defense—and to modernize, consolidate, and revitalize the foreign assistance network. Strengthening the MCC, one of the United States’ most promising tools for smart foreign policy, will be part and parcel of this effort.

With the initial five-year startup phase of the MCC nearing completion, the organization is now transitioning into a pivotal second phase of its existence. The overarching goal for the MCC in this next phase should be to show demonstrable progress in its mission to reduce poverty through the promotion of sustainable economic growth in partner countries. Fundamentally, success will be contingent upon the MCC model proving not only innovative and feasible but also effective in achieving robust development outcomes on the ground.

This paper highlights a specific set of reforms that the MCC can implement moving forward to fulfill its core mandate. The proposed reforms are aimed at enabling the MCC to accelerate and bolster the effectiveness of compacts, while at the same time paving the way for sustained results well into the future. Successfully implementing these reforms is paramount not only to realizing the potential of the MCC but also to its viability as an adequately resourced program moving forward.

Initiatives

• MCA Monitor Tracking the Millennium Challenge Account

CGD Experts

• Molly Kinder
• Sheila Herrling
• Steve Radelet

Articles

• MCA Round Six: Which Countries Will Be Selected for FY2009?
• MCA Monitor: El Salvador Field Report
• MCC Buzz Cut
• The Final Cut: Smart Advocacy Reduces MCC Rescission to $58 million
• MCA Monitor Field Reports Are Back: El Salvador Next
• No MCA Money at the Finish Line for Tanzania?
• GAO Spars with MCC on Vanuatu: He Said, She Said and What Should Have Been Said
• MCA Field Report: Madagascar
• Is MCA Money Really Additional?
• Adding Natural Resource Indicators: An Opportunity to Strengthen the MCA Eligibility Process
• Time for MCC Innovation on Budget Support
• MCA Monitor Field Report: Tanzania
• MCA Field Report: Mozambique
• MCA Gives Nod to Two Lower Middle Income Countries
• MCC Hammered: In Praise of a bold but unloved aid agency

Events

• A Conversation with Ambassador John Danilovich: Transition and the MCC
• The MCC and Aid Effectiveness: Using Economic Rates of Return to Guide Development Assistance
• Round Three of the MCA: Assessing the Prospects for
  FY 2006 Country Selection and Funding
• Assessing Nicaragua’s Millennium Challenge Account Compact--An MCA Monitor Event
• MCA Monitor: What’s Next for the Millennium Challenge Account?