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13 September 2006
U.S. Millennium Aid Agency Adds Two Policy Benchmarks
"Indicators" will focus on environment, land access, MCC says
Washington -- The U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is adding to the 16 performance benchmarks that it uses to judge whether a country qualifies for MCC development grants.
Two new benchmarks -- or indicators -- will measure a candidate country's progress toward adopting policies to protect the environment and to make land ownership more accessible to the poor, according to a September 11 MCC press release.
The new indicators initially will be used to give the MCC board of directors "non-binding supplementary information" about countries' qualifications for Millennium Development Account (MCA) grants awarded in fiscal year 2007 (FY07), said Sam Stratman, an MCC spokesperson. The MCC is a government corporation established in 2004 to administer MCA grants.
The indicators will be adopted fully for fiscal year 2008, after candidate countries have had an opportunity to become familiar with them, said MCC's Sherri Kraham, who worked on their development.
Before establishing the new indicators, MCC sought input from various nongovernmental organizations, universities and experts, Kraham said. NGOs providing input included the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund and World Resources Institute.
Many environmental policies that countries can adopt involve no- or low-cost solutions to problems that keep people in poverty and contribute to early childhood deaths, Kraham said.
Approximately 80 percent of deaths for children under the age of 4 are due to poor environmental conditions, such as sickness related to drinking polluted water or respiratory disease tied to breathing unsafe indoor air, she said.
One example of a low-cost policy change that would help more households gain access to clean drinking water is switching from providing long-term subsidies for water usage to helping people afford one-time, water-network connection fees, Kraham said.
Governments also could give communities more information about proper indoor ventilation, especially in homes that burn fossil fuels for heating and cooking, she added.
In the area of land rights and access, governments can improve their policy performance significantly by removing legal and bureaucratic administrative impediments that keep people -- particularly women and vulnerable populations -- from freely buying or renting land, according to a September 11 MCC press release.
"Experience tells us that landowners, especially farmers with secure land tenure, are more likely to make long-term investments and forgo immensely destructive practices such as deforestation and slash and burn agriculture, MCC Executive Director John Danilovich said.
The MCC is based on the principle that foreign aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic growth and spending on services that directly help people, such as education and health care.
The MCC board of directors is chaired by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and includes Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab; U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Randall Tobias, the MCC's Danilovich; and private-sector experts Christine Todd Whitman and Kenneth Hackett.
For fiscal year 2007, candidate countries must either have a maximum per capita income equal of $1,675 gross national income to qualify for the "low income" category or a per capita income of between $1,675 and $3,465 to qualify for the "lower middle income" category, and not be subject to U.S. aid restrictions.
The press release and a fact sheet describing the new indicators are available on the MCC web site.
For additional information, see Millennium Challenge Account.
For more information on U.S. development efforts, see Partnership for a Better Life.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
