Lessons Learned from Development
The Millennium Challenge Account should incorporate many of the lessons learned over the years about the effective delivery of development assistance. Governments that are tough on corruption, invest in improving the health and education of their people, and implement sensible economic policies are much more likely to have a good strategy for reducing poverty and to use development assistance effectively.
In order for the Millennium Challenge Account to meaningfully enhance the lives of hungry and poor people, Congress must adequately fund it. This amounts to an additional $5 billion a year in poverty-focused development assistance by 2006, as the president promised in his announcement. Along with securing this funding, Bread for the World will urge Congress to design the MCA in a way that maximizes its effectiveness in reducing hunger and poverty.
What do we know now about making development assistance effective?
The purpose of development assistance should be to benefit countries most in need; therefore, low-income countries must receive priority. Countries struggling with extreme poverty lack the resources to finance their own development. Only low-income countries should be eligible to receive assistance from the Millennium Challenge Account.
Development initiatives ought to address a country’s specific needs, and relieve the suffering of its poorest citizens. The Millennium Development Goals are designed to tackle such needs, so MCA funding should be directly linked to achieving these goals. MCA funding should add to national government spending to: improve poor people’s access to health care, clean water and education; prevent and treat HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis; and strengthen smallholder agriculture and small business opportunities.
Poor people are more likely to benefit from governments that promote human rights and democracy, fight corruption, and involve their citizens in policymaking. Countries promoting economic opportunities for both rural and urban poor, particularly women, usually make progress toward substantial poverty reduction. MCA eligibility criteria should emphasize good governance and policies that foster sustainable poverty reduction and equitable economic growth.
Countries that listen to the voices of hungry and poor people and incorporate their views in the country’s development strategy will use assistance more effectively. Locally designed and owned strategies are important to the sustainability of development projects and programs. MCA assistance should support countries that encourage the involvement of affected communities and people in the identification of needs and priorities, and in the design and implementation of assistance programs.
An increased effort to reduce hunger and poverty needs additional resources to meet the goal. Funds allocated to the Millennium Challenge Account must be in addition to funds for ongoing development and humanitarian assistance. The MCA will benefit only some of the poorest countries. Other countries will not yet be eligible to receive the additional funding provided by the MCA because they are still making the transition to democracy and struggling to meet the challenges of governing, with sparse resources and substandard infrastructure. Traditional development assistance, much of it channeled through nongovernmental organizations, is still essential to help meet the urgent needs of the poorest communities in these countries.
Where Will the Money Go?
What kind of programs might benefit from increased funding through the MCA? Here are some examples of projects already helping to alleviate hunger, poverty and suffering, with funding from U.S. poverty-focused development assistance:
Agira Paiola has to think for a moment when asked how old she is. “Thirty-three,” she finally replies, bowing her head with a slight smile. Agira lives in a village in the Nampula province of northern Mozambique. She is president of a 40-member women farmers’ association. Agira’s first language is Macua, but she is now learning Portuguese through the assistance of the Cooperative League of the U.S.A.(CLUSA). CLUSA, which helped organize the farmer associations in Agira's village, is also the first organization in Nampula to implement a functional literacy program for farmers. Speaking Portuguese will make it easier for Agira to market her crops, including cotton and cashew nuts. When her crops sell, Agira has money for school fees, and both her daughters can attend school in the village.
In Montana de la Flor, an isolated area of Honduras, extreme poverty and malnutrition are at alarmingly high rates. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) noticed the particular problems with child malnutrition there. CRS and its Honduran Health Ministry partners began providing a monthly ration of food to all children between 6 months and 5 years of age. Malnutrition rates decreased from 72 percent to 57 percent. Besides receiving food for their children, mothers also participate in growth monitoring, hygiene education, parasite control and environmental sanitation activities
More than 3 million Nepalese children are now receiving twice-yearly vitamin A supplements. Studies show that vitamin A reduces mortality by 30 percent in children ages 6 months to 5 years. With more than 90 percent of children in Nepal receiving the supplement, 30,000 child deaths are averted every year. Funded by USAID, this national program thrives through the initiative and dedication of Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs). These Nepalese women, unpaid and in many cases not yet literate, register all eligible children and ensure that each child receives the correct dose. More than 40,000 FCHVs are now trained and active in 71 program districts.
The best way to reduce poverty is to invest in people and develop their capacity to provide for themselves. Eligibility criteria for the MCA must allow for a broad enough group of countries to qualify so that more hungry and poor people are assisted. Countries most in need, especially in Africa, where poverty and hunger remain most severe, must be the primary recipients of poverty-focused development assistance from the MCA.
Programs like the MCA must be designed well, but to truly succeed they must also be adequately funded. Our challenge is to keep this new program focused on poverty reduction by emphasizing the Millennium Development Goals, and to convince Congress to provide the necessary resources.
The proposed Millennium Challenge Account is an opportunity for the United States to exercise leadership to meet the challenges of ending world hunger and poverty. People of faith should urge their members of Congress to rise to this challenge by passing legislation that incorporates the lessons learned about how to make development assistance effective as a tool to reduce hunger and poverty. Then, may this be said for all God’s people the world over, in rich countries and in poor: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Isaiah 60:1)
