Sustainable Food Security Solutions to Chronic Hunger;House Hunger Caucus Convenes Experts for Collaborative Response

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Rodney Bent, Acting Chief Executive Officer

There is a growing consensus to collaborate and better coordinate efforts across various government agencies to address acute hunger and implement innovative solutions to sustainable food security to benefit the world’s poor. Food security policy experts from across the U.S. Government gathered for a panel convened this week by the House Hunger Caucus to discuss just that.

MCC is pleased to have had a seat at the table, and we welcomed the opportunity to talk about our sustainable, market-based solutions to food security in partnership with the poor worldwide. I invite you to read what Jolyne Sanjak, MCC’s Managing Director for Implementation Support, shared about our efforts to date. We are grateful to the House Hunger Caucus-under the leadership of Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Rep. JoAnn Emerson (R-MO), Rep. Jerry Moran (D-KS), Rep. Betty McCollum (R-MN), Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), and Rep. John Boozman (R-AR)-for hosting the event and continuing to advance work on national and international hunger and food insecurity issues.

Our mission to reduce global poverty through economic growth means addressing the twin challenges of food insecurity and global hunger. That’s why MCC has obligated nearly $3.2 billion since April 2005 in rural and agriculture-related projects to promote long-term access to sufficient, safe, and affordable food, including projects in 17 of our 18 partner countries. Projects like these are proof positive of the U.S. Government’s commitment to global food security.

The right resources to fight global poverty: President Obama unveils fiscal year 2010 MCC budget

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Rodney Bent, Acting Chief Executive Officer

The Obama Administration sent another strong signal of its commitment to fight global poverty by unveiling a $1.42 billion fiscal year 2010 budget request for the Millennium Challenge Corporation. This figure represents an impressive increase of almost 63 percent in funding for MCC from the amount Congress provided in fiscal year 2009.

As a “smart power” resource for positive U.S. global engagement, MCC is an innovative, country-led, results-driven approach to reducing global poverty through sustainable economic growth. Looking ahead, MCC’s fiscal year 2010 budget provides funding for a strong pipeline of countries, including Jordan, Malawi, and the Philippines, that are working with their civil societies to develop homegrown compact proposals that will overcome barriers to economic growth. The budget also supports MCC’s threshold program, which helps countries not eligible for compacts improve their policy environments.

The fiscal year 2010 budget request will allow MCC to build on its successes to date. MCC’s signed commitments so far of $6.4 billion will raise the incomes of individuals in partner countries worldwide by nearly $12 billion over the life of our investments. These gains will benefit more than 22 million people, as improved national and regional infrastructure, agricultural systems and practices, and other community services spur investment and raise local incomes.

We look forward to working with Congress to fully support the President’s budget request for MCC.

For details on how MCC will allocate the $1.42 billion fiscal year 2010 budget to fight global poverty, read MCC’s just-released Congressional Budget Justification.