The paradox of water in Senegal

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Steve Kaufmann, Chief of Staff

While visiting our compact work sites in Senegal last week, I was struck by the ways in which water can both take and support life. My first site visit took me to the village of Ndioum, where MCC is working with MCA-Senegal to build a 160 meter bridge over the Doué River. Now, to get from their homes to their fields, many of the residents must take either pirogues (small canoe-like boats) or a ferry which runs infrequently and is often under repair. Tragically, fatal accidents can occur when pirogues tip due to strong currents or poor weight distribution.

After surveying the work site, my colleagues and I struck up conversation with two village elders. The elders explained that they have been waiting for over 25 years for a bridge to be built. While we were speaking, a young boy named Masseck joined our conversation. He was excited for the bridge to be completed; he told us that his older brother had drowned while crossing the river, and he didn’t want to lose another family member. We knew the river was dangerous, but Masseck’s story reminded us of the urgency of completing construction of the Ndioum Bridge. It will not only save lives, but will improve access to the fertile lands across the river and help farmers get their crops to market.

As we were touring the site, a man approached our car and asked if he could take us to visit the old irrigation pump in the Ngallenka area. We agreed, and upon arrival, our new friend, Mamadou Alanane Hame, began to speak passionately about his experience working with MCC.

Mr. Hame emphasized the participatory decision-making process that allowed him, as an expected beneficiary, to voice his opinions on the project. He remembered that during compact consultations, community members had talked about the importance of irrigation to help assure food security in the region. Now, with improved means to bring critical water to agricultural fields, the local population will plant crops and boost their yields. This unsolicited praise provided strong reinforcement for the importance of MCC’s transparent practices and our commitment to listening to beneficiaries and our partner countries.

Reflecting on my trip, the importance of water is more striking than ever. The agricultural viability of the Sahel, a zone that extends the entire width of Africa from Senegal in the west to Eritrea in the east, is rapidly decreasing as desertification claims an increasingly large amount of previously fertile land every year. As the inhabitants of the Sahel find themselves at greater risk of famine, the difference between food security and insecurity can be the difference between life and death.

MCC has reason to be proud for investing in over 30,000 hectares of irrigated land in Senegal, which is expected to directly benefit more than 250,000 individuals. In partnership with MCA-Senegal and the residents of Ndioum and the Ngallenka area, MCC is implementing water and infrastructure projects that will help to save lives, promote economic growth and reduce poverty.

For more information about the Senegal Compact, visit www.mcc.gov/senegal.

When water flows, prosperity follows

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Daniel W. Yohannes , Chief Executive Officer

I am in Jordan, one of the world's driest countries, where severe water scarcity  impacts every aspect of daily life.

I met with Fatima Ali, a widow, whose entire income is spent on rent. The water pipes to Fatima's home leak and the wastewater pipes overflow regularly. When water does flow in, Fatima uses old paint cans to store it because she does not have proper water storage containers. Fatima's neighbor, Sulaiman Ali (no relation to Fatima), has similar challenges. The diabetic father of three lacks proper water storage capabilities, and the inconsistent water supply makes operating his dialysis equipment extremely difficult.

MCC's $275 million compact with the Government of Jordan is designed to address some of these challenges.

Through the repair and replacement of broken or leaking pipes and the installation of proper water storage tanks, MCC will increase water availability and quality in poor neighborhoods like the one where Fatima and Sulaiman live. MCC's grant will also extend modern sewers to urban neighborhoods, improving wastewater collection and decommissioning the use of cesspits.

Today, I presided over the signing of a critical private sector agreement, a major step toward expanding the As Samra wastewater treatment plant. Originally built with help from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the As Samra wastewater treatment plant, once completed, will be one of the largest in the region. Approximately half of the financing for this expansion is being provided through private sector partners, proving once again that when governments create the right atmosphere for investment, the private sector will respond. 

Together, these activities will benefit approximately 3 million Jordanians. For Fatima and Sulaiman, it means a better quality of life. For MCC, it means economic growth and development for a critical partner country in the Middle East. Truly, when water flows, prosperity follows. 

Innovation in water

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Jonathan Brooks, Managing Director for Europe, Asia, Pacific, and Latin America

A community irrigation system created with the help of MCC’s compact with Honduras recently received international recognition—the latest example of how MCC’s investments provide a model for sustainable poverty growth in our partner countries.

The Cosechas de Agua rainwater harvesting project, developed through the compact’s Agricultural Public Goods Grant Facility and managed by CHF International, received the Latin American prize for innovative water management projects in the face of climate change at the World Water Forum in Marseille, France, on March 15.

Cosechas de Agua harvests rainwater for use in irrigation in the arid southern municipalities of Nacaome, Langue, Goascorán, and Aramecina. It captures rainwater and then uses a system of hydraulic works, dams and pipelines to store and distribute the water to fields. The project aims to introduce complementary irrigation systems for 188 agricultural producers over 98 hectares of land, intended to increase their income.

Access to irrigation and other support through the compact was intended to allow farmers to diversify their crops, increase their yields and expand their access to new customers nationally, regionally and internationally.

The $50,000 prize—sponsored by the Mexican national water authority Conagua, the FEMSA Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Water Center for Latin America and the Caribbean—will be used to develop the project over the next three years. Cosechas de Agua officials will also be invited to present progress on the system's economic, social and environmental impacts at the next World Water Forum in March 2015.

The Agricultural Public Goods Grant Facility was part of the $68 million Rural Development Project, which sought to increase the productivity and business skills of farmers who operate small- and medium-size farms, as well as their employees. The project is expected to help more than 357,000 people over the next 20 years and raise their household incomes by $53 million.

Will Mozambique be Africa’s next big growth economy?

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Patrick Fine, Vice President for Compact Operations

Nampula Province in central Mozambique is 2,200 kilometers north of the capital Maputo, about the distance from the East Coast to the Mississippi River. The countryside is marked by granite domes that tower hundreds of feet off the lush plains and by isolated mountains that rise up in surreal silhouettes worthy of artist Shane Devries. The land is not heavily populated, and villages are simple collections of traditional thatched-roof rondavels plastered with mud from ubiquitous conical ant hills. Rural electrification has not yet reached most of these villages, roads are simple dirt tracks, most people still fetch water from rivers, and boys stand by the roadside holding out bags of freshly shelled cashews for sale.

You can see signs of growing prosperity, including the results of MCC’s $506 million partnership with Mozambique: Our investment has helped build hundreds of village water points; pave major routes to facilitate agriculture, mining and commerce; and upgrade and expand straining municipal water and sanitation systems.

A year ago, these projects were seriously behind schedule and over budget, causing MCC and the Government of Mozambique to create an action plan to overhaul the approach for completing the work within the five-year deadline. I was impressed by the way Mozambique’s management authority, MCA-Mozambique, had consistently met its implementation milestones since the revised plan was adopted in March 2011.

Last week, with only 18 months remaining in the compact, I visited Nampula to get a firsthand view of what is being accomplished.

I was encouraged by the road and water system construction underway and came away with increased confidence that Mozambique will complete its work on time. In one rural community down a narrow 13 kilometer dirt track, I inaugurated a new borehole and water pump that serves 700 community members and will eliminate the need for women and children to spend up to two hours a day fetching water.

In the town of Nampula, I witnessed the distribution of property titles that give people secure property rights for the first time. The ceremony took place in an open neighborhood square where local officials called out names; the property owners came forward from the large crowd, signed a ledger and took their titles. At the end of the ceremony a number of people started to angrily call out, demanding their titles. The officials explained that the titles would be distributed each day that week. I found this spontaneous demonstration of the demand to have a title a reassuring indication of the value of MCC’s investment.

While my focus was on the MCC-financed projects, what really caught my attention was the extraordinary economic opportunity in Mozambique. Already, Mozambique exports electricity from the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, and it still has unexploited capacity. A Portuguese contractor working on the MCC road project drove up in a Ford Ranger and had American-manufactured scientific equipment in its materials lab. Recently an American company, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, announced it had discovered one of the world’s largest reserves of natural gas off the northern coast; the center of the country holds huge deposits of coal, and as more exploration takes place it is very likely that other minerals will be found in commercial quantities. Anadarko has plans to invest approximately $20 billion over the next five years! A Brazilian mining company is already shipping coal and has announced a $6 billion expansion.

I see all sorts of opportunities, from village hardware stores, hair salons and groceries to the suppliers and services that new investments in mining will require. Seen in this light, American investments in basic infrastructure are prescient. And a U.S. company is the supervising engineer on the drainage activity in Nampula city—where one of the main customers and beneficiaries of the new water system is Coca-Cola.

But far more important than market opportunities created by individual MCC-financed projects are the market opportunities that will open up for U.S. goods and services if Mozambique’s economy takes off. Road-building and mining equipment, chemicals and a spectrum of products and services will be needed to build this economy. Now is the time for U.S. companies to invest in establishing a presence in the country so that they can be competitive. 

The government is implementing business-friendly reforms—such as the MCC financed land reform program—and there is a still-untapped entrepreneurial spirit among the youth. Mozambique’s economy has already been growing at nearly 8 percent per year over the past several years and is on the verge of an economic era that could transform its villages and create prosperity and opportunities not only for one of the world’s poorest populations but for the companies and individuals intrepid enough to join an economy just taking off.

I left Mozambique with the impression that almost everything is in place for it to become the next big growth economy in Africa.

Opening the gateway to opportunity

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Daniel Yohannes , Chief Executive Officer

Today’s release of MCC’s 2011 Annual Report, appropriately titled Gateway to Opportunity, captures the milestones of the past year and articulates clear priorities moving forward. In the report, you can read about the significant strides we have made in delivering results, forging partnerships with countries and civil society, and championing policy reforms to create opportunities for sustainable economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries. This foundation allows us now to expand our work not just to help poor countries rise out of poverty and break the cycle of aid dependency but also to create stable trading and investment partners for the United States, which means more jobs here at home.

By incentivizing the right policy conditions and generating an enabling environment for growth, MCC builds a Gateway to Opportunity for American businesses interested in exporting to or doing business in these next generation emerging markets as they climb out of poverty. Because of this, MCC’s mission is key to Secretary of State Clinton’s 21st century economic statecraft and President Obama’s efforts to put in place an American economy that is “built to last.” MCC is pushing the envelope on development effectiveness and sustainability through our commitment to transparency, accountability, results, policy reform, and country-driven solutions.

MCC’s approach has not gone unnoticed. A November 2011 Fortune Magazine article concludes that MCC “certainly gives the taxpayer real bang for the buck.” A recent MarketWatch commentary by Thomas Kostigen arguing for a robust MCC budget sums up the impact best: “MCC deserves its fair share so the U.S. can gain its fair share in the emerging markets. The global impact of these investments comes back to us all in the form of food, jobs, more open markets for trade, and doing good and right by others. It’s a boomerang effect.”

We agree, and we’re committed to showcasing even more investment and procurement opportunities for U.S. businesses in the months ahead to ensure the full “boomerang effect” of positive impact for the world’s poor as well as American businesses and workers.

A resource for Armenia’s future

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Jonathan Brooks, Managing Director for Europe, Asia, Pacific, and Latin America

Although MCC's compact with Armenia closed at the end of September, the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan is ensuring the lessons we learned during our five-year partnership can improve the country’s future development projects.

The embassy’s new MCC Resource Center makes information regarding MCC’s $177 million investment available as a reference for future U.S. Government development projects, Armenians from the diaspora interested in building upon compact projects and others. The center includes an array of documents like farmer-training maps, public outreach documents, quarterly bulletins, and training materials.

The MCC Resource Center also provides embassy staff and visitors with information on MCA-Armenia’s successor, the Foreign Financed Projects Management Center (FFPMC). An FFPMC team led the compact development process, and we are pleased that they are involved again by helping monitor MCC’s investments over the next few years.

In Zambia, MCC’s newest compact brings clean water and improved sanitation and drainage services to more than one million residents

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Raja Kaul, MCC Resident Country Director, Zambia

Last Thursday, the MCC Board of Directors approved a $355 million compact with Zambia that focuses on the water sector in Lusaka. MCC investments are expected to have a significant impact on the lives of more than one million Lusaka residents by improving their health and economic productivity and helping the country reduce poverty on a sustainable basis. Fittingly, the Board’s decision fell on the annual UN-designated World Water Day.

This single-sector compact aims to address one of the Zambia’s most binding constraints to economic growth through infrastructure investment in the rapidly urbanizing capital city of Lusaka. It is designed to reduce the incidence and prevalence of water-related disease, decrease the number of productive days lost due to disease and time to collect water, lower costs of water and new sanitation, and reduce flood losses for businesses and residential homes.

In addition to investments in water supply, sanitation and drainage infrastructure, MCC’s integrated investment will also support the government’s ongoing water sector reform efforts by strengthening responsible institutions. The investment is expected to significantly benefit Lusaka’s poor, as 73 percent of the more than one million Zambian beneficiaries currently have incomes below $2 per day. 

The Zambia compact will promote key MCC corporate priorities, including gender and social integration, environmental and social impact assessments, and private sector development. In the Zambia compact, social and gender integration is prioritized, and activities are designed to extend project benefits to women and vulnerable groups. 

Since its inception in 1993, World Water Day has served to spotlight the global challenge to provide safe water and sanitation services to those living in poverty. So far, MCC has invested $793 million in WASH-related projects in nine partner countries, and MCC’s compacts with Cape Verde, Jordan, and Mozambique, like Zambia, focus primarily on water sector development. Our growing WASH portfolio reflects our partner countries’ recognition of the important role of access to clean, affordable, and reliable water in promoting economic growth.

For more information on MCC’s water and sanitation projects, visit www.mcc.gov/water.

Springs of Prosperity

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Steve Marma, Resident Country Director

Mozambique suffers from one of the world’s lowest levels of per-capita water consumption. Mozambican girls and women spend much of their day fetching water instead of attending school or engaging in income-generating activities. But recently I was able to witness two important milestones in MCC’s effort to provide access to some of the country’s poorest people.

During a ceremony filled with optimism for the future of northern Mozambique, Prime Minister Aires Bonifacio Baptista Ali visited Nacala on Feb. 18 to lay the first brick for the area’s new water supply system. Surrounded by dignitaries, MCA-Mozambique employees, and beneficiaries, Prime Minister Ali placed the concrete block into a hole in the red earth.  Other dignitaries were on hand to witness this important event, including the governor of Nampula province, the vice minister of public works and habitation and local chiefs. There were speeches, handshakes, dancing, countless smiles, blessings by Christian and Muslim leaders, and a makeya (a traditional ceremony to mark important occasions).

More than 120,000 people in Nacala and the surrounding region will soon have access to improved sources of water because of the project, which includes a treatment plant, transmission mains, a reservoir, and distribution centers. It’s part of the compact’s $207 million Water Supply and Sanitation Project, which is expected to benefit more than 750,000 Mozambicans. Just days after that ceremony, we hit another landmark—albeit with far less fanfare. The first group of people displaced by the project’s activities in the Quelimane area received compensation payments. Almost 140 of the 423 people affected by the project received payments; 26 of them opted to receive new houses, the contracts for which have already been signed. They will likely have greater access to social services as part of a planned community.

The Quelimane activity is designed to improve drainage and reduce flooding, which should lower the rate of diseases like cholera and malaria, as well as allow for the expansion of the road system into the area.

Prime Minister Ali’s brick was the first of many to be laid, and hundreds of others affected by the Quelimane project will soon receive their checks—but this month’s events were huge steps on the path of helping northern Mozambicans escape poverty.

MCC and Cape Verde: Managing Scarce Resources to Reduce Poverty and Promote Investment

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Daniel W. Yohannes, Chief Executive Officer, MCC

A few days ago, I arrived in Cape Verde to sign MCC’s newest compact. Cape Verde is surrounded by ocean, but access to clean, reliable fresh water and sanitation services is a serious problem; only nine percent of poor households are connected to a networked public water supply.

During my trip I stayed in the capital city of Praia, where many residents get their water from communal fountains and lug it back to their homes in large plastic jugs. They use that water for drinking, cooking, and other household functions. Communal fountains are usually only open for one hour each day, and long lines form down the block as people patiently wait their turn at the tap. If the local water utility is experiencing problems the fountain may be shut off for days, forcing local residents to travel farther to reach a functioning water source.

The water utility delivers water to fountains in tanker trucks—an expensive and sometimes unreliable process. While utilities do not profit from water delivery, residents still must pay fees to cover costs. Cape Verde’s water tariffs are some of the highest in Africa.

At the fountain pictured here, users pay 500 escudos, about $6.00, per cubic meter of water, more than five times what I pay in Washington, DC. For a country with nearly 40 percent of the population living on under $2.00 per day, many families cannot afford the water they need. All sectors suffer: health and well-being deteriorate; agricultural crops fail; tourism slows; and economic productivity falters.

The $66.2 million compact that I just signed channels $41 million toward reforming national water policy and regulatory institutions; transforming inefficient utilities into independent corporate entities operating on a sustainable, commercial basis; and improving the quality and reach of water and sanitation infrastructure, benefitting over 250,000 Cape Verdeans.

The compact also includes a $17 million Land Management for Investment Project, which will support the Government of Cape Verde in creating a single reliable, accessible source of land rights and land boundaries information. This project is designed to strengthen Cape Verde’s investment climate and reduce time and costs associated with land registration.

I’m extremely proud of this compact, and of the successful partnership it represents between MCC and Cape Verde. We are looking forward to working with the government and people of Cape Verde to implement this program on time, on budget, and with a constant focus on achieving results.

Children of Morogoro

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Marc Tkach, Associate Director, Infrastructure

Just out of school on a warm day, these boys take a rest under the shade of an old tree in Morogoro, Tanzania. They sit atop part of the dilapidated Mambogo water treatment plant from which their drinking water flows. Nestled against the Uluguru Mountains in the Tanzanian highlands, Morogoro is one of the largest and most picturesque towns in East Africa. Its water supply system, though, is undersized and the situation is quickly becoming worse as the population booms.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation's investment in Tanzania involves construction of a new water treatment plant to replace the Mambogo plant, rehabilitation of the larger Mafiga plant down the hill, installation of almost two kilometers of water main pipe, and the upgrade of the town’s water storage capacity. Access to reliable, affordable and clean water is a key factor in the reduction of disease and the increase in productivity that will benefit the Morogoro region.

MCC investments also will improve the water supply in the nation’s largest city, Dar es Salaam. An expansion of the Lower Ruvu water treatment plant will lead to an output of 270 million liters per day, an increase of 50 percent.

Learn more at mcc.gov

BCLC forum highlights private sector investments in water and sanitation for poverty reduction

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Dr. Barbara Hayes, Director

Yesterday I participated in the U.S. Business Civic Leadership Center’s “Global Corporate Citizenship Issue Series: Focus on Water”  event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC. The forum brought together representatives from the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and government agencies to discuss opportunities for private sector investments in water and sanitation in developing countries.

Lack of safe and reliable access to clean water is a critical constraint to economic growth and poverty reduction. Unclean water and lack of basic sanitation have serious implications for the world’s poor, especially in relation to improving basic health and productivity. Recognizing the significance of water infrastructure to the sustainability of MCC’s mission, MCC has invested approximately $784 million in water and sanitation.

As part of our mission to reduce poverty through economic growth, MCC is dedicated to increasing the impact of compact funding by integrating the private sector into compact development and implementation. As the BCLC explains,  “The links between a lack of access to water and sanitation and development goals are clear, and the solutions to these problems are known and cost-effective. According to the ONE Campaign, meeting the water and sanitation MDG would have a total annual economic benefit of $22 billion for the continent of Africa alone. It is estimated that every $1 spent on water and sanitation generates returns of $8 in saved time, increased productivity, and reduced health costs.”

  At the forum, I had the opportunity to discuss MCC’s work in linking private sector investors to water and sanitation projects in MCC partner countries. In Jordan, for example, the MCC Compact is funding expansion of the As-Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant in partnership with a private sector operator that will mobilize a substantial share of the construction costs on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. This is the first large-scale BOT arrangement that MCC has agreed to fund. MCC’s involvement will reduce the cost of capital, allowing consumers to pay lower water and wastewater tariffs than might otherwise have been necessary. This arrangement will also enhance operational sustainability by transferring some risks related to financing,  construction, and operations to the private sector.

The BCLC forum highlighted how the private sector, in partnership with other organizations, is implementing programs that go beyond philanthropic models to increase access to safe drinking water and improve sanitation in frontier markets around the world. As my fellow panelist John Sauer of Water for the People said, “Non-traditional [public-private] partnerships are what we’re really looking for, because we see that there’s a lot of added value. ...These kinds of non-traditional partnerships are key.”

At MCC, we know that incorporating private sector participation  into our compact investments helps ensure sustainability of those investments through expanded markets and increased innovation, job creation and trade. Stay tuned for more news on how MCC is leveraging its private sector partnerships, and read MCC’s Private Sector Toolkit (PDF)  to learn more about opportunities for investment in our partner countries.

World Water Day: Turning on Faucets for the Worlds Poor

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Omar Hopkins, P.D., Associate Director for Infrastructure

When World Water Day was first celebrated in 1993, some 5.3 billion people lived on the planet.  Of these, 512 million lived in sub-Saharan Africa, where only 49 and 26 percent, respectively, had access to an improved water source and sanitation facility.  Today, on the seventeenth World Water Day, the global population includes 6.7 billion people, of whom 818 million live in sub-Saharan Africa, where 58 and 31 percent, respectively, now have access to water supply and sanitation services.  This is a moment to celebrate the additional 223 million sub-Saharan Africans who have access to a water supply and the 120 million who now can access sanitation, but we should also focus on the continuing low rates of access.  While tremendous accomplishments have been made, a great deal of work remains undone. Given the tremendous unmet demand for water supply and sanitation, what is being done to facilitate change and accelerate the rate at which these critical services are provided to a billion or so people globally who lack these critical services?  A difficult problem like this requires innovation, experimentation, and a willingness to take risks to find better solutions. MCC was created as a new approach to development assistance: a firm five-year window for implementation, full commitment of the funds upon compact signing, untied assistance, and host country ownership, including proposal development and implementation.  This approach reflects the best thinking about development assistance, as articulated in the Paris Declaration.  In this, MCCs seventh year, we are looking at some important lessons learned, like carefully integrating social and environmental factors into project design and implementation, identifying innovative contracting approaches that accelerate the project life cycle without sacrificing quality, and promoting private sector participation. MCC works closely with partner countries to identify high value water supply and sanitation projects and water resource management and productivity projects that respond to the countries development priorities.  MCC programs in Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania include MCCs three largest water supply and sanitation projects, covering rural and urban water and sanitation, non-revenue water management, and source development.  In addition, Mali, Burkina Faso, Armenia, Senegal, and Moldova are pursuing major irrigation and water resource management projects.  To date, MCC programs have funded approximately $528 million in water supply and sanitation and $769 million in water resource management and irrigation. MCC partnered with the Government of Mozambique to target a traditionally underserved area: water and sanitation investments in urban areas and small towns.  Secondary urban areas are particularly difficult environments in which to build sustainable water supply and sanitation systems because, by definition, they lack economies of scale, are more remote, have higher costs, have difficulty attracting and retaining staff, and are typically less affluent—all of which have negative implications for sustainability.  Yet, a majority of world population growth will occur in urban areas and much of that will occur in these secondary urban areas.  Addressing the projected water supply and sanitation needs of these communities will be one of the sectors most pressing challenges in the coming decades.  In advancing MCC’s mission of global poverty reduction through economic growth, we will continue to work with partners committed to expanding access to water and sanitation.

Effectively Engaging the Private Sector

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Jason Bauer, Director of Private Sector Initiatives

This week more than 167 companies attended a procurement conference and heard about contracting opportunities arising from projects funded by Millennium Challenge Corporation compacts. Supported by Business Unity South Africa, Standard Bank, and the U.S. Embassy, the conference was hosted at the Development Bank of Southern Africa in Midrand, South Africa. Country teams from Burkina Faso, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Tanzania discussed over $3 billion in procurement opportunities, ranging from building roads and water systems to building health centers and schools. The compact in Ghana and compacts still being developed with the governments of Malawi and Zambia were also discussed.

The conference highlighted the business opportunities that ultimately support MCC’s mission of reducing poverty through economic growth. The conferences key themes included the openness and transparency of the procurement processes, the ability for international companies to bid on compact projects and the unique opportunities for U.S. and international suppliers.

Companies attending the conference included those focusing on infrastructure engineering, design, and construction, as well as those providing project management and technical assistance. The resounding message: MCC partner countries throughout Africa are open for business.