Africa
Powering an Energy Secure Future for Benin
MCC's $391 million Benin Power Compact tripled the nation’s grid capacity and is projected to benefit more than 11 million people over the next 20 years.
MCC’s Investments in Africa by Sector
Numbers represent compact investments as of Mar. 31, 2023.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) represents an innovative approach to U.S. foreign assistance and development—one that emphasizes results and accountability, incentivizes policy and institutional reforms that catalyze private sector investment, and is led by country partners with a focus on sustainability. With some of the world’s fastest growing economies in Africa, MCC is playing a leading role in helping the continent’s best-governed poor countries seize new economic opportunities and fight poverty.
Since its founding in 2004, MCC has invested $9.7 billion in compacts and $245 million in threshold programs in Africa. The majority of MCC’s investments are infrastructure projects that have delivered clean water and sanitation to help fight disease, made transportation more efficient through construction of hundreds of kilometers of roads, improved agriculture yields by bringing irrigation to farmers, and increased access to reliable electricity for households and businesses.
The AGOA and MCA Modernization Act authorizes MCC to enter into concurrent regional compacts, enabling countries to develop more than one compact at a time in order to support cross-border projects that promote regional economic integration, trade and collaboration. This new authority enables MCC to employ its innovative model across borders to reduce poverty and increase stability and security around the world by addressing regional challenges to economic growth.
Through these programs, MCC’s investments and partnerships have:
- benefited an estimated 94 million Africans,
- improved the yields of over 70,616 African farmers,
- educated 167,072 African students,
- contributed over 25 million megawatt-hours of electricity supply to Africans, and
- guaranteed over 300,000 African households and businesses have legal rights and protections over their land.
Countries in Africa with MCC Programs
MCC helped increase access to markets, land, justice, and financial services, including a major modernization of the Port of Cotonou that contributed to reducing port costs, shortening wait times and boosting traffic at the regional commercial hub.
MCC’s $391 million second compact with Benin focuses on electricity reliability and access through new infrastructure, policy reforms, institutional strengthening, and support for private investment in the power sector.
The Benin-Niger Regional Transport Compact will increase regional trade, attract investment, and contribute to the region’s efforts to reduce poverty through economic growth.
MCC strengthened agricultural infrastructure and water-management techniques, assisted in rural land ownership reform, linked markets through improved roads, and ensured more girls complete primary school.
In September 2022, the MCC Board of Directors voted to terminate MCC’s assistance to Burkina Faso.
The program promoted shared values and economic growth in Burkina Faso by providing girls with greater access to quality primary education in the 10 lowest-performing provinces in the country.
MCC helped integrate internal markets and reduce transportation costs by upgrading Cape Verde's infrastructure, including modernization of the Port of Praia. MCC also helped link businesses to credit markets and promoted drip irrigation.
This five-year compact with Cape Verde is intended to increase household incomes by reforming two sectors identified as current constraints to economic growth: the water and sanitation sector and the land management sector.
Côte d’Ivoire was selected for a threshold program in December 2014 but was moved to a compact a year later due to its commitment to good governance and sustained efforts to strengthen its scorecard. The compact entered into force in August 2019.
The Ghana Compact was designed to raise farmer incomes through private sector-led agribusiness development with projects aim to strengthen production, help move goods to market more efficiently and improve farm communities and farmers' livelihoods.
MCC's Ghana Power Compact will fight poverty by improving the reliability and affordability of electricity in Ghana.
From 2007-2010, Kenya's USAID-implemented Threshold Program focused on reducing public-sector corruption by overhauling the public procurement system, with a specific concentration on health care procurements throughout the supply chain.
The Kenya Urban Mobility and Growth Threshold Program seeks to assist Kenya in addressing limited connectivity in urban areas, a critical constraint to inclusive economic growth.
MCC's investments aimed to increase the availability of water for household and industrial use, enhance watershed management and conservation methods, rehabilitate health infrastructure and strengthen health systems, and remove barriers to private investment.
The $300 million Lesotho Health and Horticulture Compact seeks to assist the country in unlocking equitable and sustainable economic growth in partnership with the private sector by addressing key constraints to growth.
This compact aimed to encourage economic growth and reduce poverty in Liberia by focusing on inadequate access to reliable and affordable electricity and road infrastructure.
The program empowered the poor and promoted shared American values through a focus on improving land rights and access, increasing girls’ primary education enrollment and retention, and improving Liberia’s trade policy and practices.
This compact sought to assist the rural population’s transition from subsistence agriculture to a market economy by helping beneficiaries secure formal property rights, access credit and receive training in agricultural production, management and marketing.
This compact was designed to increase incomes and reduce poverty by improving the availability and reliability of and access to Malawi's power supply.
The program sought to reduce opportunities for corruption and strengthen the government’s ability to manage and monitor its finances. It supported independent oversight institutions and systems of enforcement and deterrence.
MCC is proud to continue our longstanding partnership with the Government of Malawi by investing $350 million to reduce transport costs, connect to markets, and strengthen land administration in Malawi.
The Mali Compact serves as a catalyst for sustainable economic growth through investments that capitalize on two of Malis major assets: the Bamako Senou Airport, a regional gateway for trade, and the Niger River, with its potential for agricultural production.
In December 2022, the MCC Board of Directors selected Mauritania as eligible to develop a threshold program.
The compact increased productivity and improve employment in high-growth sectors like fruit tree productivity, fisheries and artisan crafts. Financial services investments and enterprise support complemented small business creation and economic growth.
MCC and the Government of Morocco partnered to implement a $460.5 million compact to address two major constraints to economic growth in Morocco—employability and land productivity.
MCC sought to increase productivity, income generation and poverty reduction in the northern provinces of Mozambique by improving water and sanitation, roads, land tenure, and agriculture.
The Mozambique Connectivity and Coastal Resilience Compact is designed to promote inclusive economic growth, climate and coastal resilience, and improve the quality of and access to public services and transportation infrastructure.
The Namibian Compact aimed to increase the competence of the Namibian workforce through knowledge and skills, as well as to increase the productivity of agricultural and nonagricultural enterprises in rural areas.
MCC’s $442.6 million compact with the Government of Niger is increasing rural incomes by improving the sustainable use of natural resources for agricultural production and improving trade and market access for agricultural products.
The program sought to improve Niger’s scorecard performance for compact eligibility by reducing administrative corruption and barriers to increased trade and investment.
The program supported the Rwandan government’s efforts to strengthen civic participation, promote civil liberties and rights and improve the judicial system. The program was designed to complement and reinforce Rwanda’s own reform efforts.
The program helped the Government of São Tomé and Príncipe increase revenue through improved tax and customs administration and enforcement. The program also helped streamline business registration procedures.
MCC aims to unlock the country’s agricultural productivity and expanding access to markets and services through critical infrastructure improvements in the Senegal River Valley and the Casamance region.
MCC and the Government of Senegal are partnering to spur economic growth and reduce poverty by improving Senegal’s power sector, reducing costs and expanding access to electricity for citizens and businesses.
In December 2020, the MCC Board of Directors selected Sierra Leone as eligible to develop a compact.
MCC and the Government of Sierra Leone partnered to implement a $44.4 million threshold program to improve access to clean water and reliable electricity, and to support reforms designed to limit opportunities for corruption.
MCC's $698.1 million Tanzania Compact, completed in 2013, was designed to benefit more than five million people by investing in the country through targeted infrastructure improvement projects in transportation, energy and water.
On March 28, 2016, MCC’s Board of Directors voted to suspend MCC’s partnership with Tanzania.
The program helped the Tanzanian government reduce public corruption through a multi-pronged approach that increased civil society engagement, strengthened the rule of law and supported institutional reforms.
In December 2022, the MCC Board of Directors selected The Gambia as eligible to develop a compact.
MCC and the Government of The Gambia signed a $25 million threshold program to support the country's biggest constraint to economic growth: the unreliable and inadequate supply of electricity.
In December 2022, the MCC Board of Directors selected Togo as eligible to develop a compact.
The Togo Threshold Program is designed to support policy and institutional reforms in two areas identified as critical constraints to economic growth and poverty reduction: information and communication technology (ICT) and land tenure.
Tunisia was selected by MCC Board of Directors as eligible to develop a compact program in December 2016 and is in the final stages of compact development.
The program focused on decreasing public-sector corruption, particularly in procurement. The program strengthened governmental ability to follow-up on reported malpractice and the role of civil society in monitoring corruption.
The Zambia Compact invested in water supply, sanitation and drainage infrastructure with the goal of decreasing the incidence of water-related diseases, generating time savings for households and businesses, and mitigating business and residential flood losses.
In December 2021, the MCC Board of Directors selected Zambia as eligible to develop a second compact.
The program sought to improve scorecard performance on three indicators by reducing corruption in key government institutions and barriers to increased trade and investment.