Tomorrow, the Millennium Challenge Corp.’s board of directors will hold their much anticipated fourth quarter meeting in Washington. Board members are expected to tackle, among other issues, which countries will be eligible for compact assistance in fiscal 2014.
MCC’s board meets at a critical time of transition for the agency. Tapped by U.S. President Barack Obama as the next U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, MCC CEO Daniel Yohannes is stepping down after four years at the helm. Dana Hyde, associate director for general government programs in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, has been nominated by Obama to replace Yohannes.
For Devex readers who might not be familiar with MCC, the agency pioneered a more performance-based aid model within the U.S. foreign aid regime. In order to qualify for large, five-year, untied grants for poverty reduction and economic growth, poor countries must perform better than their peers on 20 indicators that measure good governance, economic openness and social sector investment. Since its establishment by the Bush administration in 2004, MCC has approved 28 compacts, as the agency’s grant agreements are called, valued at more than $9.6 billion. (See map above).