Tanzania, Burkina Faso Thank U.S. for Development Assistance
Millennium Challenge Corporation fights global poverty
Washington — Leaders from Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Albania — whose countries are all recipients of assistance from the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) — have publicly expressed thanks on behalf of their citizens to the United States government and the American people for development assistance in their countries.
The three leaders made their comments to the Associated Press September 22 at an interactive forum sponsored by the MCC and InterAction, a coalition of more than 150 humanitarian organizations.
The forum, entitled “Country-Led Development: Proven Partnerships in Fighting Global Poverty,” was held in conjunction with the 64th U.N. General Assembly. The session provided U.S. government representatives the chance to interact face to face with civil society advocates and leaders at the United Nations.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete told those in attendance that the citizens of his country are “grateful recipients of generous support from the government and people of the United States.” In line with the founding principles of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, each recipient country creates its own development plan based on its unique needs.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a U.S. government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world. Established in January 2004, MCC is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom and investments in people. MCC’s mission is to reduce global poverty by promoting sustainable economic growth.
In February 2008, MCC signed a five-year, $698 million agreement (called a “compact”) with Tanzania to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth by increasing household incomes through targeted investments in transportation, energy and water. President George W. Bush and President Kikwete signed the MCC compact in Dar es Salaam while Bush was visiting Tanzania as part of an Africa trip that also took him to Benin, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia.
The investments in three projects contained in the compact will help Tanzanians address the inadequate transportation network by improving roads and thereby increasing commerce and helping to connect communities with markets, schools and health clinics; improve the reliability and quality of electric power and extend electric service to communities not currently served; and increase the availability and reliability of potable water for domestic and commercial use, which will improve health and increase productivity.
Before a country can become eligible to receive assistance, MCC looks at its performance on independent and transparent policy indicators. MCC selects eligible countries for compact assistance based on that performance. Countries that have demonstrated significant improvement in policy indicators but do not yet qualify for a major compact grant may be eligible for “threshold program” assistance. Threshold programs are smaller grants designed to help improve performance on specific indicators.
Like Tanzania, Burkina Faso signed a five-year, $480.9 compact with the MCC in July 2008 to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth through strategic investments in four projects.
The projects seek to increase investment in land and rural productivity through improved land tenure security and land management; expand the productive use of land to increase the volume and value of agricultural production in project zones; enhance access to markets through investments in road networks; and increase primary school completion rates for girls.
Burkina Faso’s president, Blaise Compaoré, who also attended the event, said, “Without development there is no peace, there is no help and there is no knowledge. I’m here to thank President Obama and all the people of America … and all the people who are working on the ground.”
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha was equally grateful, saying a $15.7 million MCC threshold grant made to his government three years ago “really changed my country” and helped streamline the business climate there.
The program is focused on improving the country’s performance on MCC’s “ruling justly” and “economic freedom” indicators and aims to reduce corruption through reforms in tax administration, public procurement and business registration.
MCC development goals aim to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth by helping the recipient government establish sound economic policies.
Commenting on the importance of the forum, Aaron H. Sherinian, MCC’s managing director of public affairs, told America.gov that the session offered “a unique opportunity to listen to civil society leaders brainstorm with government leaders and donors. The meeting proved that honest dialogue can improve foreign assistance. We came away with a number of good ideas about leveraging our money with NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] and the diasporas so that it can have a greater impact for the world’s poor.”
Sherinian, who attended the meeting, added that the event was an open public forum. “The U.N. is one of a number of great opportunities to get the right people in the room to talk about global poverty,” he said.
“You could feel the energy in the room [which was standing room only] because people understand the urgency of getting poverty reduction right,” he said.
Also attending the forum were Foreign Minister Jose Brito of Cape Verde, Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio of Senegal, Minister of Mining and Political Affairs Alpha Kanu of Sierra Leone and the president of Africare, Julius E. Coles.
MCC is helping some 38 countries worldwide with poverty-reduction grants in excess of $7 billion.