Updated: May 17, 2004
Millennium Challenge Account UpdateOn May 6, The Bush Administration selected the first 16 countries that are eligible to receive funding through the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). World Vision works in 12 of the 16 countries that have been selected. The asterisks indicate that World Vision operates in the county.
Armenia * Benin Bolivia * Cap Vert Georgia * | Ghana * Madagascar Mali * Mongolia * Mozambique * Honduras * | Lesotho * Nicaragua * Senegal * Sri Lanka * Vanuatu |
For more information:
16 Nations Chosen for New Aid Program, Washington Post, May 7, 2004
Foreign Aid That Really Works, The Center for Public Justice
Overview of the Millennium Challenge Account
The US contribution to Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) has declined significantly over the past two decades, to where it has come to represent less than .2 percent of our national budget. However, in 2002, President Bush promised to double the amount of U.S. foreign aid. The new U.S. “compact for development” will target the poorest countries.
The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is President’s Bush’s new model to make foreign aid effective. He is calling for a $5 billion increase in ODA, starting in 2004 for a period of 3-years and another $5 billion for a subsequent 3-year period based on the recipient countries’ performances. Developing countries must meet three criteria to be eligible to receive funding from the MCA:
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| In order to truly target the poorest countries, World Vision believes that the MCA should be limited to helping countries that can only qualify for grants and special low interest loans from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA). Including middle-income countries in the MCA will dilute the positive impact that the MCA |
The Administration developed 16 indicators to measure how well developing countries are performing in the categories of good governance, investing in people and economic freedom. However, the indicators completely ignore the role and status of women in development. Furthermore indicators for children only measures school enrollment and immunization statistics.
This approach ignores the groaning problems of children living in poverty who have little or no access to schools and health care. It does not address their vulnerability as street children/adolescents in urban areas. The indicators fail to address the persistent problem that, in the developing world, the largest concentration of population is under 25 years of age and most youth have no access to jobs.
Poverty is not just a matter of living on one dollar a day. It is primarily a result of relationships that do not work, that are not just and that deny the poor the opportunity to fulfill their God given potential. Widespread poverty in developing or middle income countries will not change for women, children, and other marginalized people without changing existing unjust relations and replacing them with a new paradigm in which the poor valued and given the tools to become self-reliant.
| World Vision US is a member of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. InterAction's Global Partnership for Effective Assistance is a campaign to save lives and build self-sufficiency by increasing development and humanitarian assistance, improving aid effectiveness, and building international partnerships. |
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| World Vision Policy Paper: Spending Wisely: Making New Aid Resources Work, written by Alan Whaites, World Vision Partnership Director of Policy and Advocacy. |
| News Resources: October 24, 2003 The Economist Weapons of Mass Salvation Mar 10, 2002 Washington Post Don't Just Fund the War, Shell Out for Peace March 4, 2002 Washington Post Poor-Mouthing Aid February 8, 2002 Washington Post Does Aid Help? |
| Additional Resource Visit the Bread for the World website for a more in depth look at different aspects of the Millennium Challenge Account. Bread for the World (BFW) is a Christian voice for ending hunger. A nonpartisan citizens' movement of 46,000 people of faith, including 2,000 churches, BFW members help hungry people by lobbying our nation's decision makers on legislation that addresses hunger in our communities and around the world. |
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