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UNESCO Member States and the Millennium Challenge Corporation
January, 2008
A Mongolian nomad stands beside solar panels that power lighting and a television inside her yurt near Ulaanbaatar.
A Mongolian nomad stands beside solar panels that power lighting and a television inside her yurt near Ulaanbaatar.
© AP Images
Four UNESCO member states signed compacts in 2007 with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) – Lesotho, Mongolia, Morocco, and Mozambique, bringing the total to 15. The Republic of Tanzania was approved for a compact by the MCC Board in 2007, and signature is pending. MCC is a United States Government corporation designed to work with developing countries around 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 through the promotion of sustainable economic growth.

For a country to be selected as eligible for MCC Compact assistance, it must demonstrate a commitment to policies that promote political and economic freedom, investments in education and health, control of corruption, and respect for civil liberties and the rule of law as measured by 17 different policy indicators.

Countries that do not yet qualify for a Compact grant but demonstrate a significant improvement in the policy indicators may be eligible for Threshold Program assistance. The Threshold Program is designed to help countries improve performance on MCC’s selection criteria by addressing specific policy weaknesses, in the hope that they will qualify for MCC Compact funding in the future.

Guyana, Kenya, Sao Tome and Principe and Uganda signed MCC Threshold agreements in 2007 and MCC also approved Threshold agreements with Yemen, Peru and Kyrgyz Republic.

Links of interest

For more information about the MCC please click here.
 
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