Millennium Challenge Corporation: Independent Reviews and Consistent Approaches Will Strengthen Projections of Program Impact

摘要

In January 2004, Congress established the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for foreign assistance. Eligible countries submit compact proposals for MCC funding for projects aimed at reducing poverty through economic growth. To assess the proposed compacts' likely impact, MCC performs economic analyses estimating the compacts' economic rate of return (ERR) and effects on income and poverty as well as the number of compact beneficiaries. MCC uses these analyses to inform its decisions to fund proposed compacts and to inform Congress and the public about its progress in achieving its mission of poverty reduction through economic growth. GAO was asked to examine MCC's projections of (1) ERR and (2) compacts' impact on income and poverty as well as numbers of beneficiaries. GAO reviewed MCC's stated impacts and analyses for four MCC compacts that represented 41 percent of MCC's compact assistance and met with MCC officials. GAO recommends that the Chief Executive Officer of MCC (1) adopt and implement written procedures for a secondary independent review of its economic analyses and (2) improve MCCs guidelines by identifying a consistent approach with preferred methods for projecting compacts impact on income and poverty. MCC concurred with GAOs recommendations.