04 August 2009
The Millennium Challenge Corporation in Africa, August 4, 2009
(Podcast with Jonathan Bloom and Jeri Jensen of the MCC)
(begin transcript)
Narrator:
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In August 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Nairobi, Kenya. During her visit, the eighth annual forum for the African Growth and Opportunity Act will be held. AGOA, as the program is known, was launched in February 2003. African countries that meet certain standards of value can take advantage of preferential access to U.S. markets.
Another program that will be highlighted during Secretary Clinton’s trip to Africa is the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Jonathan Bloom is deputy vice president of Africa programs.
Jonathan Bloom:
We only do one thing, and that’s poverty reduction through economic growth. But there are three key principles on which we operate. The first is that we only work in selected countries. Those with strong policies that are supportive of a free political system, a sound economic system — good environments both to make effective use of these scarce U.S. taxpayer dollars and good environments in which people ought to invest. Two, the country owns the program. They determine what the investments are going to be in, with some support from us; we only accept things that are proposed by them. So when the country owns the program, there’s a much higher odds of really moving forward and really succeeding. The third key — we really believe that results matter, you get what you measure. Before a program starts, we define with the country what the targets are, what the objectives are, what the outcomes are, set quantified targets for them, and then track them right along the way.
Narrator:
Jeri Jensen is managing director of private-sector programs. She explains how the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s unique programs combine development efforts of key areas like infrastructure and agriculture.
Jeri Jensen:
Our programs combine agribusiness and infrastructure often. GDP growth that comes from agriculture-related projects has twice as much firepower, in terms of -- so to speak -- in terms of reducing poverty than non-agriculture products and many of our investments are in agriculture. The other thing that makes us unique is that we invest along the entire supply chain. Not only do we deal with land tenure issues at one end, but the post-harvest infrastructure at the other. And from, again, an investor’s perspective, even if there’s no money leveraged with the private sector, the fact that they can build on top of the investments that we’ve already made can be very appealing, and in fact we’ve been able to do that in terms of connecting our beneficiaries to the global supply chain with U.S. and other types of investment coming in around our projects.
Narrator:
Several factors make the Millennium Challenge Corporation different from a traditional aid program. Jensen explains.
Jeri Jensen:
First of all, it’s grant funding which is very unique. Second of all, it’s significant grant funding. It can be as high as $700 million, for example, in Tanzania and Morocco. It’s predictable five-year funding, which from a business perspective, if they’re looking to take advantage of both AGOA and MCC, they know that the projects, the money that has gone to a country is there for five years. Often, companies look to MCC countries as a gateway to Africa, because those are the countries that are conducive to investment and are taking some of the regulatory and legal steps that need to be taken for private-sector investment are the ones that MCC is investing in as well.
Narrator:
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