MCC-Liberia Holds Retreat in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County

Buchanan, Grand Bassa - The Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact Eligibility Team has held a two-day retreat in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County from August 10-11 in order to engage in participatory strategic planning involving members of the MCC Compact Eligibility Indicator Technical Working Group to review the FY17-18 Indicator Performance Plans and develop strategies for the FY18-19 MCC Compact eligibility program activities.

According to a dispatch from Buchanan, another objective of the workshop was to enhance the capacity of key stakeholders, especially members of the Technical Working Group to effectively integrate MCC Indicator activities into their respective Ministries and Agencies programs as well as to ensure the effective implementation of the FY18-19 Indicator Performance Plans.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact is a US$ 257 million grant project support to the Government of Liberia funded by the MCC and implemented through the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact Eligibility Team at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.

The compact grant support covers the Mt. Coffee Hydro Development; Capacity Building Support for the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) as well as the National Road Management Program.

It can be recalled that the MCC Compact Eligibility Team has been working with both the MCC Indicator Action Matrix which is a three years plan and the Annual Indicator Performance Plan in order to improve Liberia’s Performance on the annual MCC Scorecard.

During the workshop, it was disclosed that a review of the FY17-18 Performance Indicator Plan showed a substantial amount of the targets set were completed while some were said to be delayed or postponed due to several constraints including the October 2017 elections and the lack of funds to implement planned indicator performance activities.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an innovative and independent U.S. foreign aid agency that is helping lead the fight against global poverty.

Created by the U.S. Congress in January 2004 with strong bipartisan support, MCC has changed the conversation on how best to deliver smart U.S. foreign assistance by focusing on good policies, country ownership, and results. MCC provides time-limited grants promoting economic growth, reducing poverty, and strengthening institutions.

Meanwhile, it was further disclosed that Liberia has maintained a good indicator performance record on the annual MCC scorecard during the past five years owing to government’s commitment to implementing policy reforms.

The members of the Technical Working Group meeting in Buchanan have therefore agreed that in order to sustain the momentum, the current strategy of enhanced collaboration and full participation of the relevant government’s entities be encouraged and upheld which will require the development of a more robust Indicator Performance Strategy for execution of MCC eligibility for FY18-19 period.