Millennium Challenge Corporation Research Articles

Assessing climate resilience in rice production: measuring the impact of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s IWRM scheme in the Senegal River Valley using remote sensing and machine learning

Satellite remote sensing (RS) and machine learning can be combined to develop methods for measuring the impacts of climate change on biomass and agricultural systems. From 2015 to 2023, we applied this approach in a critical earth observation-based evaluation of the Irrigation and Water Resources Management component of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Senegal Compact. This project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was implemented in the Senegal River Valley from 2010 to 2015. Utilising these techniques, we successfully mapped rice cultivation areas, deciphered cropping practices, and analysed irrigation systems responses to different climatic conditions. A marked increase in cultivated rice area was found particularly in regions targeted by the project intervention. This is despite prolonged drought conditions which underscores a significant climate adaptation benefit from these irrigation works. We observed a notable dip in rice cultivation area in 2020, possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a recovery to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, likely aided by previously funded USAID’s socio-economic resilience programmes in the region. Economic analysis of increased rice yields in the region translates to approximately US$ 61.2 million in market value since 2015, highlighting the economic returns from the project investment. Both the RS data and ground audits identify issues regarding post-project deterioration of irrigation infrastructure, emphasising the need for long-term maintenance of irrigation infrastructure to support climate adaptation benefits arising from irrigation. With a focus on crop irrigation, our findings stress the critical role of climate adaptation interventions for maintaining agricultural productivity in the face of adverse climate shocks. It further highlights the necessity of continuous investment and maintenance for ensuring climate resilient agrifood systems.

Realist and Liberal Perspectives : A Critical Analysis of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Nepal

Realist and Liberal Perspectives : A Critical Analysis of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Nepal

Realist and Liberal Perspectives : A Critical Analysis of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Nepal

Realist and Liberal Perspectives : A Critical Analysis of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Nepal

Assessing the functionality of a water-vending kiosk network with high-frequency instrumentation in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Access to safe, reliable, and equitable water services in urban settings of low- and middle-income countries remains a critical challenge toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.1, but progress has either slowed or stagnated in recent years. A pilot water kiosk network funded by the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation was implemented by the Sierra Leone Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit into the intermittent piped water distribution network of Freetown, Sierra Leone, as a private-public partnership to improve water service provision for households without reliable piped water connections and to reduce non-revenue water. This study employs the use of high-frequency instrumentation to monitor, model, and assess the functionality of this water kiosk network over 2,947 kiosk-days. Functionality was defined via functionality levels on a daily basis through monitored stored water levels and modeled water withdrawals. The functionality levels across the kiosk network were found to be 34% operational, 30% offline, and 35% empty. Statistically significant (p<0.001) determinants of functionality were found for several predictors across the defined thresholds. Finally, modeling of water supply, water demand and withdrawal capacity, and water storage was conducted to further explain findings and provide additionally externally relevant support for kiosk operations.

Causes of Ambivalence in Nepal and America Relations

The United States of America and Nepal have worked together in many different fields after establishing bilateral diplomatic relations in 1947. The USA has been contributing to development sectors like infrastructure development. Still, there is a growing ambivalence among Nepali Youths, especially on the nature of their bilateral relationship. However, Nepal’s political parties have different perspectives on how America is engaged in Nepal. In 2022 Nepal ratified Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) from the parliament under fierce criticism and strong protests from some political parties, their sister wings, and even Civil Society Groups. Their protests were primarily concerned with the feeling that both countries have no equal status in the bilateral relationship. There are a few questions on the nature of American presence in Nepal. Nepal is a geopolitically significant land between two emerging nations of the world; India and China. There is a history of American interference in different countries of the world that has become a source of ambivalence in Nepal. Left wings politicians are very doubtful of the role of the USA in Nepal, especially how it showed desperation in turmoil to ratify the MCC project. This context has fuelled mistrust against the USA in Nepal. Though the majority of the youths of Nepal dream of going to America at any cost, they are still protesting against the American presence in the country. The attraction of Nepali youths to Diversity Visa applications and strong street protests against MCC are full of juxtapositions. Why this duality exists in the mind of Nepali youths? This article aims to study the causes of ambivalence in the relationship between the nations.&#x0D; The United States of America and Nepal have worked together in many different fields after establishing bilateral diplomatic relations in 1947. The USA has been contributing to development sectors like infrastructure development. Still, there is a growing ambivalence among Nepali Youths, especially on the nature of their bilateral relationship. However, Nepal’s political parties have different perspectives on how America is engaged in Nepal. In 2022 Nepal ratified Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) from the parliament under fierce criticism and strong protests from some political parties, their sister wings, and even Civil Society Groups. Their protests were primarily concerned with the feeling that both countries have no equal status in the bilateral relationship. There are a few questions on the nature of American presence in Nepal. Nepal is a geopolitically significant land between two emerging nations of the world; India and China. There is a history of American interference in different countries of the world that has become a source of ambivalence in Nepal. Left wings politicians are very doubtful of the role of the USA in Nepal, especially how it showed desperation in turmoil to ratify the MCC project. This context has fuelled mistrust against the USA in Nepal. Though the majority of the youths of Nepal dream of going to America at any cost, they are still protesting against the American presence in the country. The attraction of Nepali youths to Diversity Visa applications and strong street protests against MCC are full of juxtapositions. Why this duality exists in the mind of Nepali youths? This article aims to study the causes of ambivalence in the relationship between the nations.

Impact Evaluation of Water Infrastructure Investments: Methods, Challenges and Demonstration From a Large‐Scale Urban Improvement in Jordan

AbstractImpact evaluation (IE) of large infrastructure presents numerous challenges, and investments in urban piped water and sanitation are no exception. Here we present methods for more systematic assessment of the implications of such interventions, discussing tradeoffs between validity, relevance and practicality that arise from alternative approaches. Then, to more clearly illustrate the many issues that typically arise in such IEs, we draw on an example application in Zarqa, Jordan, where the Millennium Challenge Corporation invested about US$275 million to upgrade and extend piped water and sewer networks, as well as increase the capacity of the country's largest wastewater treatment plant. The theory of change for the intervention took a systems view of impacts: the project aimed to improve water supply to urban areas while maintaining flows to irrigators through enhanced wastewater reuse. The case adds valuable evidence on the impacts of large infrastructure investments and illustrates well the challenges of capturing spillovers, mitigating study contamination, maintaining statistical power, and determining overall welfare effects, in situations involving diverse market and nonmarket impacts. These limitations notwithstanding, the application highlights the high value of conducting IEs, and why applied researchers should not give up on pragmatic and interdisciplinary collaborations to evaluation in the face of complex interventions.

New constitutionalism across the North-South divide—neoliberalization through development cooperation agreements

The Wall Street Consensus (WSC) marks the global North’s recent attempt to make development in the global South investable. Yet, how are these neoliberal reforms for an investor-friendly environment promoted? This article argues that new constitutionalist mechanisms are used in development cooperation agreements between the global North and the global South to carve in neoliberal reforms in general, and financialization in particular. We apply Gill’s concept of New Constitutionalism (NC) to trace the mechanisms that attempt to lock in these reforms. We chart out how NC underpins Gabor’s WSC and account for idiosyncratic features of postcolonial statehood. We, thus, operationalize and expand Gill’s NC concept. We apply this framework to the MCC Ghana Power Compact, a development cooperation treaty between the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Government of Ghana. Deploying qualitative content analysis, we spot about 60% of the NC mechanisms. Beyond rendering visible the NC mechanisms in international agreements, this article contributes an analytical tool to research the (power) dynamics in development cooperation between the global North and South. While it demonstrates Gill’s relevance in understanding these processes, it also points towards avenues of research regarding the locking in of WSC reforms.

Effectiveness of a water-vending kiosk intervention toward household water quality and surveyed water security in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Low-income urban residents of Freetown, Sierra Leone, have limited access to safely managed piped drinking water services. The Government of Sierra Leone, in partnership with the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation, implemented a demonstration project of ten water kiosks providing distributed, stored, treated water among two neighborhoods in Freetown. This study quantifies the impact of the water kiosk intervention by utilizing a quasi-experimental propensity score matched difference-in-differences study design. Results indicate a 0.6 % improvement in household microbial water quality and an 8.2 % improvement in surveyed water security within the treatment group. Furthermore, low functionality and adoption of the water kiosks were observed.

Changes in Global Power Relations, Geopolitical Complexity and Nepal's National Security Challenges

&#x0D; There are clear signs that the balance of power in the globe is shifting. The USA, an established superpower, and China, a developing superpower, are vying for the world's attention. Eventually, Russia is showing strength to establish herself as one of the other axis powers to transform the global order from unipolar to multipolar. India, Nepal's immediate neighbor with an open border and decades-old, strong bilateral links, is also evolving into a regional power, or at the very least, is on track to appear as the world's second-largest economy in near future. In this juncture, Nepal is more of security significance to China, India, and the US due to its geostrategic location. Nepal, which is constrained by a number of treaties with India, has already declared its support for both the US Millennium Challenge Corporation and China's Belt and Road Initiative. The New World Order has seen a new regional security climate in South Asia and growing polarization leading to large power rivalry forming a China-India plus the US . Additionally, attempts are being made to strengthen the security ties between the US and Nepal through the State Partnership Program (SPP) and with China through the Chinese Global Security Initiative (GSI), both of which may pose serious challenges to Nepal's national security. Thus, Nepal must maintain strict nonalignment foreign policy, increase the use of soft powers, and take a proactive, impartial, and balanced attitude in its diplomatic operations in order to face the expanding national security challenges resulted from geopolitical complexity. Also, Nepal needs to maintain strategic balance among the great powers, promoting the value of green energy and nurturing soft power. For Nepal, accomplishments of such goals and objectives through the preservation of the Himalayas, promoting Nepal's rich cultural heritage of the Buddha and accelerating mililtary diplomacy in the UNPKO have been indispensable. Nepal's foreign and national security policy should be both inside and outward looking, fostering her regional and the multilateral engagements in SAARC, BIMSTEC, Shanghai Cooperation, and the United Nations.

The Effectiveness of Millennium Challenge Corporation Grants in Accelerating Economic Growth

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a United States’ agency, with a novel structure that provides international development assistance. It operates with the stated objective of assisting the grant-recipient countries in their attempts to accelerate economic growth through poverty reduction, particularly by identifying and removing the binding constraints to growth. There is much debate over how the MCC programme is effective in realising its growth-supporting objective. A few studies have been conducted to examine this aspect. The present study, another attempt to shed light on the comparative growth performance in the MCC grant recipient economies, did not enable the inference that the MCC grant has successfully accelerated the growth impetus in recipient nations. This suggestive inference, however, has to be reconfirmed through future research, that could possibly include any other variables which might be considered as influential, and also capture the long-term growth effects which may not have been reflected through macroeconomic data thus far.

The Manifestation of Small State Syndromes in Foreign Policy of Nepal: An Assessment through Case of MCC Grant

Nepal, as a small state nestled between two geopolitical giants, India and China, faces a unique set of challenges and opportunities in shaping its foreign policy. MCC compact is the development assistance of the USA to developing countries like Nepal, though the clauses of MCC went through various misinterpretations and controversies. Its base revolves around the issues of sovereignty, the autonomy of Nepal, bilateral relations with major powers, and a policy of non-alignment with intense feelings of nationalism. This research article aims to explore the small state syndromes that influence Nepal’s foreign policy decision-making, focusing on the case of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant. By examining the intricacies of Nepal’s foreign policy, this article sheds light on the complex interplay of diplomatic, economic, and security factors that shape small states like Nepal. The paper, thus, discusses the small state syndromes in the foreign policy of Nepal by taking MCC as a case and dwells on finding why MCC became controversial in Nepal, which further exemplifies the manifestations of small state syndromes in the foreign policy of Nepal.

해외개발원조가 신흥국 경제성장에 미치는 영향 분석

Bilateral relations between the United States and Mongolia have been active since 1990. In particular, the governments of the United States and Mongolia have made steady efforts to promote economic and social cooperation. One of the important factors in the economic field is foreign aid, and the close relationship between the two countries has been upgraded to the next level thanks to the aid from the Millennium Challenge Corporation.&#x0D; The results of empirical analysis based on data from 1990 to 2020 confirmed Foreign direct investment(FDI), ODA, Export, Import and Infra had a significant on Mongolia's economic growth using the Vector Error Correction Model.&#x0D; Therefore, it can be concluded that Mongolia's economy and society are moving towards the realm of economic growth and development, with a focus on strengthening the inflow of financial aid from major donors and improving the quality of foreign direct investment, and the business cycle and various resources are improving.

Empowering Moroccan Girls through Education

Women’s empowerment is one of the main goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework that is adopted by many developing countries, including Morocco, to fight poverty and gender discrimination. The Fourth and fifth goals in this framework aim at putting gender equality and women’s empowerment on the agenda of education and literacy policy makers by eliminating gender disparity in primary, secondary and tertiary education. To do so, Morocco is committed to build on the partnership opportunities with U.N agencies like Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to develop a gender-sensitive approach with specific and clear goals that would enable the implementation of gender mainstreaming at all levels and stages of policy making. In doing so, The Moroccan government will not only be able to solve gender-inequalities in different life domains including education, but also develop a policy arsenal that goes in-line with the international goals on gender equality. However, it is argued that the SDGs framework does not serve women’s cause as it serves liberal agendas by shifting the attention from real empowerment of women to integrating them in the economic system, turning them into a ‘new proletariat’. Therefore, this study analyzes the MCC’s gender policy along with Gender and Social Inclusion Dimensions Action Plan (GISAP) using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis model in the light of Sardenberg’s [31] conceptualization of women’s empowerment and current development approaches to see if the approach that the Moroccan government is adopting is ‘liberating’ girls or fostering ‘liberal’ ideology. Results showed that this approach considers empowerment an instrument for economic growth and a fertile ground for strengthening liberal ideology through a horizontal and narrow interpretation of empowerment. Thus, girls and women should be empowered through a vertically-oriented approach that enhances their participation in policy making, inhibits discriminatory practices and challenges patriarchal structures.

MCC as a Tool of American Influence on Developing Countries

In February 2022 there were massive demonstrations in Nepal against the $500 million "free" aid agreement between the country and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The protests subsided, and the Nepalese parliament overwhelmingly approved the agreement. In July 2022, civil unrest broke out in Sri Lanka. A member of parliament shot himself, the prime minister's ancestral home was burned down, the defense ministry was forced to issue a "shoot-to-kill" order against protesters, and the president promised not to sign the MCC. In this article, the author explores the MCC as an instrument of American influence in developing countries, using Sri Lanka and Nepal as examples. Particular attention is given to specific mechanisms of economic pressure on developing countries to achieve political results. This article introduces the MCC organization and, by describing events in Nepal and Sri Lanka, reveals the role that the MCC plays in the process of American intervention in the Third World. The study analyzes statistics that illustrate the economic impact of the U.S. on developing countries. The author draws conclusions about the impact of U.S. activities through the MCC on the regional environment. There are many ways in which the United States intervenes in regional affairs. The MCC is only one of them, but it is particularly significant. Through it, the U.S. establishes privileged conditions for itself in negotiations with developing countries to achieve results that could not be obtained without economic pressure.

Millennium Challenge Corporation: Interpretations and Implications for the National Security of Nepal

The interpretations of MCC in the Nepali “bazaar” comprise three themes: sovereignty, geopolitics, and governance. This study reveals that these diverging interpretations of MCC, based upon these themes, pose implications to the national security of Nepal. Firstly, it poses a challenge to the unity of the Nepalese people. Second, the composed narratives of the United States against China under a geopolitical theme construct another challenge in the conduct of Nepal’s foreign policy. Last, the absence of interpretations based on economic development perspectives creates a socio-economic challenge related to poverty and unemployment. Formal political synonymy, disdain of United States against China narrative, and new narratives of development are crucial to gradually disparage these challenges. Epistemologically, this paper is interpretative (constructive) and uses an inductive, qualitative method of study. To do so, it collects secondary data in the form of expert interviews from the social, political, legal, and economic spaces of society.

The Op-ed Articles on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Project: A Rhetorical Analysis

This paper attempts to make a rhetorical analysis of six op-ed articles on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project, which are published online in the English daily newspapers of Nepal. This study has discussed about how the authors in each article have used the language and context as a medium to persuade the readers in favour or in opposition of the MCC project and also to identify the rhetorical techniques that are used to accomplish their purpose. The rhetorical analysis is supported by the theoretical ideas of Aristotle and Kenneth Burke. In particular, Burke's concept of dramatism pentad has been used to find the answer of what was done (act), when or where it was done (scene), who did it (agent), how he did it (agency) and why (purpose). The findings of the study show that these authors have used effective rhetorical techniques to present the same situation in different ways, using their percussive appeals in their writing and the motive to bring the readers under their rhetorical influence. This study further found that the authors have used logos (logical reasoning) as the major tool to support the MCC project and have mainly used the scene-purpose ratio as a rhetorical tool to push the anti-MCC ideas. Finally, the study concludes that tracing out the relationship between the pentadic elements helps the critical readers to find the specific motives of the authors and also identify the rhetorical techniques used in their writing.

WHY OPPOSE THE MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION IN NEPAL?

The construction project agreed with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has become highly controversial in Nepal. According to MCC policy, the contract, signed in 2017 with the goal of increasing the availability of electricity in Nepal and reducing transportation costs, must be ratified by the Nepali parliament. Confusion and controversy arose, since the move would create a precedent for the ratification by parliament, if demanded, of each and every foreign investment in Nepal. There are also legal controversies when countries that receive MCC grants are required to comply with MCC provisions intended to ensure that projects are not hampered by changes in state law. A further controversial point is a provision that makes implementation of the MCC project conditional on approval from India. The MCC is actually a part of the United States’ broader Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), related to military pacts such as the QSD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) that are aimed at containing China. In such circumstances, how can Nepal maintain its stance as a non-aligned nation in relation to its giant neighbors? Leaders of various political parties, civil society organizations, and the general public in Nepal currently fall into two camps that either support or reject the MCC grant.

The Future of the U.S.-Philippines Alliance: Declining Democracy and Prospects for U.S.-Philippines Relations after Duterte

executive summary: This article examines the Philippines' democracy under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte and assesses the ramifications of democratic decline for the future of the U.S.-Philippines alliance under the next administration. main argument The anti-democratic policies of the Duterte administration have subverted institutional and societal checks on executive power, threatening the U.S.-Philippines alliance as an instrument of U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific. Duterte successfully reshaped domestic politics to augment his regime's influence over the legislature, judiciary, local governments, military, and economy, and openly sought to jettison the alliance for closer diplomatic and economic ties with China that would help him subvert domestic checks and balances on his administration. To repair and augment its alliance with the Philippines, the U.S. must recognize that the country's democratic decline is highly unlikely to reverse once Duterte leaves office and should transparently develop policies to incentivize the next administration and policymakers in the Philippines to roll back Duterte's anti-democratic policies. policy implications • If Duterte's successor continues to consolidate power domestically by weakening institutional checks on the administration's authority and coercing political opposition into silence or compliance, military cooperation between the U.S. and the Philippines will falter and create new vulnerabilities threatening U.S. interests in the Pacific region. • The Biden administration should reconfigure U.S. security assistance under the schema of positive conditionality to discourage further efforts to undermine democratic governance and degrade human rights conditions from the next presidential administration in the Philippines. U.S. assistance should also be optimized to support the Philippines' military modernization while prioritizing economic and technical cooperation to mitigate the challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, economic recession, and pervasive low-intensity conflict. • Whereas the application of sanctions on individuals responsible for supporting human rights violations can be a coercive tool of diplomacy in extremis, it is more important that the U.S. offer inducements for curtailing these violations through bilateral efforts to expand investments from U.S. companies to Philippine business, particularly through the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Trilateral Engagement in Nepalese Geopolitics: Soft Power Approach in Nepal's Foreign Policy

The contemporary South Asian geopolitics in general and Nepalese geopolitics, in particular, is a crucial factor to analyze trilateral engagement, and their affairs in Nepal. Geopolitics is one of the major factors of shaping and reshaping bilateral and multilateral relations. It is influenced by the actions and reactions of geopolitical players. They sometimes push their actions broadly to achieve their national and global interests, and sometimes even narrow down their actions. But, whatever their actions, their national and global interests continue to grow. China, India and the USA have been dealing, in one way or the other, to widen, broaden and defend their national and regional interests. Dealing of three super and great powers in Nepal have dealt based on the changing geopolitics which greatly implicates Nepalese domestic affairs and foreign policy. This paper mainly assesses the engagement of the USA, China, and India in Nepal, and how their power play implicates Nepal's foreign policies. It aims to explore Nepal’s way of moving forward in the context of the Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI), Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and the newly emerged China-Russia security dialogue platform. The paper adapts interpretivism as the philosophical position and hence method is qualitative. It only focuses on geopolitics, BRI, MCC, and China-Russia security dialogue platform. The conclusion of the paper is that Nepal’s foreign policy should be based on soft power discourse to eliminate the issues of any kind of regional and global security alliance with super and great powers.

Are growth diagnostics biased against the poor? Evidence from the Millennium Challenge Corporation

AbstractMotivationThe growth diagnostics methodology was developed to encourage context‐specific problem‐solving and priority‐setting as a substitute for the universal prescriptions that characterized the Washington Consensus era. While growth diagnostics have been praised and become popular in development planning, little is known about what they do in practice.PurposeThe Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a new aid agency, adopted growth diagnostics in 2007 to guide decision‐making for bilateral development assistance after forging nearly 20 agreements informed by existing Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. This study examines how the MCC’s adoption of growth diagnostics affected its development investments.Approach and methodsThe study used a mixed‐methods approach with primary and secondary data and an interrupted time‐series research design that compares MCC agreements designed with and without growth diagnostics.FindingsThe study found that growth diagnostics helped move the MCC’s investment portfolio away from multi‐sector integrated rural development programmes aimed at high‐poverty regions towards programmes in fewer sectors concentrated in urban areas with large policy and institutional reform components reminiscent of earlier structural adjustment programmes. The article explains how features of the growth diagnostic methodology largely contributed to these changes.Policy implicationsDevelopment planners committed to using diagnostics should employ inclusive growth diagnostics, which modify the original diagnostic in ways that identify and target constraints to achieve pro‐poor growth.