Fighting Cuts to the MCC
June 27th, 2008 at 1:12 pm | posted by ONE.Partners
At the end of May the Senate passed a bill to provide emergency aid for
Jordan, Burma, and food security - urgent humanitarian needs that our
government needs to address.
The problem:
The Senate funded the assistance by proposing to cut the budget of the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which invests in long-term poverty reduction, by 1/3. The U.S. has already promised MCC funding to several very poor countries, including the African nation of Burkina Faso, scheduled to sign a compact with the MCC in July. Since the news, the NGO community has been advocating hard against the proposed cuts.
The result:
Last week the proposed cuts were reduced from $525 million to $58 million by a conference of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate approved the bill last night and it is now up to the President to approve.
This month, I had the privilege of traveling to Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world. 80% of the population is rural, subsistence farmers. The women I met in Burkina Faso rely on small vegetable plots to feed their families and send their children to school. The MCC’s programs would help women have access to land, help girls go to school, and improve rural roads - key strategies for reducing poverty and increasing food security. I also met with government officials who told me that the country has already spent $5 million of its own budget and has undergone years of preparation, consultation, and reform in order to qualify for MCC assistance. Pulling funding at this point sends
a signal that America is not a reliable partner. While responding to emergencies is vital, cutting long-term development funding to pay for it puts people at greater risk for poverty and food insecurity, the very problems we are trying to solve. (Listen to NPR’s Morning Edition on the cuts)
What has this experience taught us? Two things. First, there is no doubt that we need to reform our Foreign Assistance policies to invest in long-term poverty reduction, ensure that women’s needs are included, and prevent situations like these from happening. Second, with the right advocacy, activists and NGOs like the ONE Campaign have the power to
make reform happen.
- Nora O’Connell, Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs,
Women Thrive Worldwide
June 27th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Thank you very much for this update on the cuts made to the MCC to buffer disaster relief elsewhere in the world. I was wondering what had happened with these proposed cuts.
The MCC is such a GREAT program - I don’t know why the Congress keeps mucking around with it.
It has never been properly funded since it was started five years ago and one can only wonder just how much more good the MCC could do if given proper funding.
I encourage people to look hard into the faces of the women of Burkino Faso. You can see hope and happiness but you can also see concern in these women’s faces.
These women are undoubtedly concerned about how they fend for themselves and their families in the future. In their eyes, I see the reason WHY I am in our movement to end extreme poverty.
Take a hard look into these women’s eyes and see if you don’t find your reason to be AS ONE in their eyes also.
ALWAYS ONE in the Spirit, debbie
www.mpwn-uganda.org
June 27th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Actually the MCC is very well funded but very little of that $ has ever made it onto the ground in any of these countries. The money literally sits in accounts. Do your homework before you decide you need to give the whole world your 2 cents on every single post. There’s a lot you don’t know and a lot of misinformation you’re spreading. Read a book, get a job. Find something else to do in your life beside spread ill-informed , self-righteous attitude.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I’m sorry Bob but there have been many posts right here in the ONE Blog that would disagree with your position.
The fact that a lot of the money for the MCC sits in accounts would be because of the bureaucratic red-tape that countries have to go through to qualify for MCC money. I personally know of several projects in one country that were not funded due to the stringent controls placed on qualifying countries for MCC money.
Any DATA Report that mentions the MCC will show in dollar amounts how much that was proposed for the MCC each year and how much was actually allocated for the program and the two never gel with each other.
I’m sorry if my wishing these women well in their efforts to help the women of Burkina Faso bothered you. I actually think that you have the ill-informed, self-righteous attitude.
I attack no one in this Blog and would appreciate the same in return. We can discuss differences, Bob, without falling into acrimony like you have here.
And to tell an unemployed person who is actively looking for a job in this downturn economy to “get a job” is just plain cruel and heartless, Bob.
There was no need for that - not unless you wanted to “cut to the heart” which really would be in humane.
Please check the rules for posting in this Blog because you are in violation of them.
Coexist please.
AS ONE, debbie
www.mpwn-uganda.org