Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network • Blog

See the guest post below from Richard Morford, former Managing Director for Donor and Multilateral Relations at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

What Foreign Aid Reform Can Learn from the Millennium Challenge Account

Richard A. Morford

The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), the major experiment in reform of development assistance of the Bush Administration was designed to test whether bundling “lessons learned” over the past half century of foreign aid could yield greater development results.   It is still too early to do a full blown assessment of MCA performance and that of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) which administers the Account, but as the Obama administration and Congress undertake major reviews of foreign assistance, it makes sense to look at the experiences of this ongoing reform effort and see how they might inform the broader reviews currently underway.   Here are nine takeaways:

1.  Design for Purpose:  MCA was designed to help poor countries with relatively good political, economic and social policies “reduce poverty through growth”.  One of the strongest assets of MCC is that all staff members understand its mission.  Its objectives, governance and authorities were clearly spelled out in legislation to accomplish this quintessential development purpose.  There are many reasons why the USG provides foreign assistance beyond poverty reduction and development.  Humanitarian need, national security, and transnational threats are other compelling missions.  It is important to have clear mission statements for each.  Once the mission is clear, governance, authorities and modalities should differ based on how best to meet each purpose.

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