The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a United States Government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world. Established in January 2004, MCC is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom and investments in people. MCC's mission is to reduce global poverty through the promotion of sustainable economic growth.

Before a country can become eligible to receive assistance, MCC looks at their performance on independent and transparent policy indicators. MCC selects eligible countries for Compact Assistance.

Countries that have demonstrated significant improvement in policy indicators but do not yet qualify for a Compact grant may be eligible for Threshold Program assistance. Threshold programs are smaller grants designed to help improve performance on specific indicators.

Led by a Chief Executive Officer and overseen by a Board of Directors, MCC is responsible for the stewardship of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), which receives funds appropriated by Congress every year.

USAID then implements the Threshold Programs per the interagency agreement where feasible. USAID currently manages eighteen of the twenty Threshold programs worldwide and of those programs two are in the West Africa Mission.

For more information visit:

http://www.mcc.gov/