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LIVESTREAM: Join MCC and Freedom House at 9:45 a.m. EDT for a special livestreamed event—"Delivering for Democracy: MCC’s Commitment to Locally Led Development" with CEO Alice Albright and Freedom House President Michael Abramowitz.

  • Annual Report:  2020 Annual Report
  • March 2021

Introduction

The U.S. Congress created the Millennium Challenge Corporation in 2004 to take a different approach to U.S. development—one with a singular focus of reducing poverty through economic growth. Sixteen years later, MCC continues to deliver on this mission around the world by combining a private-sector approach with years of development expertise. MCC’s unique model follows the data to produce evidence-based investments designed to maximize economic impact to benefit some of the world’s poorest populations.

Through a strong commitment to transparency, accountability, and country ownership, MCC’s programs build capacity, ensure sustainability, and maximize the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars. These principles are foundational to MCC’s work and continue to shape compact and threshold programs in over two dozen countries around the globe. To date, MCC has signed 38 compacts with 29 countries, worth more than $13.5 billion, benefitting nearly 190 million people worldwide. The agency’s investments are designed to specifically target a country’s most significant constraints to economic growth and aim to boost economies by providing critical infrastructure and leveraging policy and institutional reform.

Without question, the COVID-19 pandemic has created unparalleled challenges—but the agency has continued to deliver on its mission through the strong commitment of its workforce and country partners. MCC implemented a robust response to the COVID-19 pandemic both at headquarters and overseas, and the senior leadership team continues actively to address the broad range of issues resulting from the pandemic to ensure the appropriate short- and long-term planning is in place for the agency. Despite these challenges, MCC celebrated many accomplishments in fiscal year 2020.

Women’s Economic Empowerment

MCC continued to advance women’s economic empowerment, to prioritize the critical role of women in driving economic success and stability in nations around the world. Women’s economic empowerment has always been a component of MCC’s programs, and the consolidated and coordinated U.S. Government efforts around this important work in recent years have resulted in unparalleled impact. In fiscal year 2020, MCC worked with the Government of Morocco to codify and implement legal changes securing land rights for women across Morocco. MCC also committed to incorporating these critical elements further into our program design by adopting a new institutional investment criterion for women’s economic empowerment—a first for the agency.

Fiscal Year 2020 Program Milestones and Achievements

During fiscal year 2020, the MCC Board of Directors selected Mozambique as eligible for a compact program and Kenya as eligible for a threshold program. MCC also continued to make progress on the development of our first concurrent regional compact with Benin and Niger—pursuant to a new authority granted under the AGOA and MCA Modernization Act to promote regional economic integration. The agency also celebrated key program milestones this year, including the signing of a $450 million compact with Burkina Faso and the closeout of the El Salvador Compact.

Looking ahead, MCC remains resolute in its commitment to deliver on its mission while prioritizing the health and safety of staff and country counterparts as the agency continues its work to produce sustainable, cost-effective investments on the American people’s behalf.

Board of Directors: Fiscal Year 2020

The MCC Board of Directors (the “Board”) comprises five government officials and four individuals from the private sector that the President appoints with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Board meets quarterly.
  • Mike Pompeo, Chair – Secretary of State
  • Steven T. Mnuchin, Vice Chair – Secretary of the Treasury
  • Robert E. Lighthizer – U.S. Trade Representative
  • Mark A. Green – Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
  • Sean Cairncross – MCC Chief Executive Officer
  • Alexander (Ander) Crenshaw – Former U.S. Representative
  • Mike Johanns – Former U.S. Senator and Secretary of Agriculture
  • George Marcus – Founder and Chairman of Marcus & Millichap Company
  • Susan McCue – President of Message Global LLC