MCC and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark Sign Memorandum of Understanding

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Washington, D.C. – The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the government of Denmark today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase cooperation between MCC and the MFA. The MOU, which was signed by MCC CEO Ambassador John Danilovich and Danish Minister for Development Cooperation Ulla Tørnæs, reinforces their current foreign assistance cooperation and opens new avenues for making assistance more effective in line with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The MOU emphasizes MCC and the MFA’s shared goals of helping developing countries to reduce poverty, increase growth and improve the lives of their people. The MOU underscores the central role of partner country ownership and underlines support for partner country efforts to reach their own development objectives and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Through the MOU, MCC and the MFA look to increase coordination in countries in which they are both working, such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Nicaragua, and Tanzania. The MOU envisions cooperation in several priority areas including: climate change, gender, impact evaluation, policy environments, and the private sector.

“The MOU we sign today will allow us to share important lessons learned as we continue our mission to fight poverty worldwide”_ said Ambassador Danilovich. “MCC is happy to team with Minister Tørnæs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of Denmark. We look forward to advancing our common objective to better the lives of the world’s poor” Ambassador Danilovich added.

Key elements of the MOU:

MCC and the MFA will support collaboration and share early lessons, best practices and operational tools on climate change and gender equality and their integration into partner country programs to achieve sustainable economic growth.
Each side will work toward identifying opportunities for private sector and partner country program cooperation. MCC and the MFA will look to share analysis and information on programs that enhance their support for private sector development and on potential opportunities for complementary investments, particularly in the area of agribusiness. Furthermore, both will look to identify opportunities that enhance their relationship bilaterally, as well as inside formal donor and partner country programs.
MCC and the MFA will make available information on indicators used in assessing country performance and the methodology used for country eligibility. Future policy environment cooperation could focus on knowledge sharing in connection with how to collect information and publish results of efforts undertaken.
Finally, both MCC and the MFA will seek to share their knowledge resources regarding impact evaluation strategies, methodologies, and studies.

The full text of the Memorandum of Understanding can be found at www.mcc.gov.

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Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government agency designed to work with developing countries, is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces sound political, economic, and social policies that promote poverty reduction through economic growth. For more information, please visit www.mcc.gov.