The MCC is a US foreign aid agency that is helping countries fight widespread poverty through economic growth. The MCC assesses over two hundred countries annually that are either LICs or LMICs on a competitive basis. To be selected, a country must pass a minimum of ten out of twenty governance related indicators including those of “political rights” and “control of corruption”.

These indicators cover three broad areas: Economic Freedoms, Investing in People and Ruling Justly. In 2012, Sierra Leone passed twelve out of twenty indicators including those of corruption and political rights and therefore qualified to develop a compact.

The Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit (MCCU) an entity under the office of the Vice President was thus created to exercise and perform the Government’s rights and obligations to oversee, manage and implement a $44M Threshold Program (THP) over a four year period. The THP focuses on addressing two of the four binding constraints to growth identified in Sierra Leone’s constraints analysis (CA). These are: 1. Lack of access to reliable and affordable electricity; and 2. Lack of access to clean water and improved sanitation. The overall objective of the THP is to support effective service delivery and strengthen the financial viability of the electricity and water sectors. The THP was signed in November 2015 and entered into force in February 2016. Key Government partners that work with the MCCU to ensure that its overall objectives are achieved include GVWC, EDSA, EGTC and EWRC.