The objective of the Threshold Program is to assist a country in becoming compact eligible by supporting targeted policy and institutional reforms. MCC works with Threshold Program-eligible countries on these reforms through country-specific threshold programs. USAID has administered all but one threshold program and is responsible for the day-to-day program management.

MCC’s Threshold Program has expanded and strengthened the U.S. Government’s dialogue with country partners and created an opportunity for MCC to support institutional reforms in countries, using the incentive of potential Compact-eligibility.

Threshold Program Review

MCC recently concluded a year-long review of the Threshold Program to assess whether the program is achieving its policy and program objectives. Based on the results of the review and early threshold programs, MCC developed a body of lessons learned.

Next Generation Threshold Program

The next generation of the Threshold Program will continue to assist countries in their efforts to become Compact-eligible by supporting targeted policy and institutional reforms, thereby providing countries with an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to the broad policy areas underlying the MCC eligibility indicators. Instead of seeking to directly assist a country in improving its performance on a specific eligibility indicator, however, the enhanced Threshold Program will seek to indirectly affect the indicators by focusing on policy and institutional impediments to economic growth. 

Threshold Program Evaluations

MCC is committed to evaluating individual threshold programs to ensure that lessons learned are available for future programs and to ensure accountability to its stakeholders. At a minimum, the independent program evaluation must:

• Identify the program outputs and outcomes;
• Assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the threshold program;
• Provide lessons learned that may be applied to similar projects;
• Assess the likelihood that results will be sustained over time.

MCC Threshold Program

The objective of the Threshold Program is to assist a country in becoming compact eligible by supporting targeted policy and institutional reforms. MCC works with Threshold Program-eligible countries on these reforms through country-specific threshold programs. USAID has administered all but one threshold program and is responsible for the day-to-day management.

Evaluating Threshold Programs

MCC is committed to evaluating its activities to ensure that future programs benefit from lessons learned and to ensure accountability to its stakeholders. At a minimum, an independent program evaluation attempts to:

• Identify the program outputs and outcomes;
• Assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the Threshold Program;
• Provide lessons learned that may be applied to similar projects; and
• Assess the likelihood that results will be sustained over time.