Maidan

To my knowledge, nobody within Government has run with this and it will probably have to start life as an initiative from Ukrainian civil society. That, of course, means you, the person reading this in Ukraine.

The source is the Millennium Challenge Commission,
which has recently identified Ukraine as one of 13 countries which could benefit from its new 'Threshold' scheme.

This scheme
assists countries in the process of undertaking necessary reforms
to make themselves eligible for serious funding for programmes to reduce poverty and corruption.

These are the kinds of reforms that you in Maidan are already campaigning for and should happen anyway; but now there is an added incentive which you can use to strengthen the position of reformists within the Government, by persuading them to at least begin a dialogue with the MCC.

More details and links follow shortly.

While wishing this project well and hoping it happens (obviously, otherwise I would not be promoting it here), I have two regrets about it.

First, it's yet another example (potentially) of the commitment to Ukraine by the USA being greater than that of the EU, and we are supposed to be your next-door neighbours.

Second, I dislike the charitable overtones and understand how it could offend Ukrainian pride (the spectacle of Ukraine competing with other poor countries to appeal to some foreign philanthropist with a begging bowl). However, I am working on the principle that there is no such thing as a free lunch: notwithstanding the extreme good will of the hardworking people at the MCC, there must be something on the end of it for their donors.

Whatever that may be,
there could also be a lot in it for ordinary and struggling Ukrainians, so I think it's worth taking further.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Yes, of course, but first you have to entrust somebody within the Government with $100million to tackle the corruption within the Government (and elsewhere) and improve conditions for the poor.

http://www.usaid.gov/mca/

http://www.usaid.gov/mca/Documents/Compact_Proposal_Guidelines_en.pdf

In a message dated 10/11/2005 19:46:37 GMT Standard Time, [....] writes:
One may wonder about the
conflicting reqisites for a nation's recognition by the MCC. Typically, a high corruption culture goes hand in hand with a nation's empoverished status.

EmKay

Ionas Aurelian Rus wrote:

In order to qualfy for the US Millenium Challenge program, a country classified as relatively poor needs to meet certain standards in a number of areas: democracy, economic reform and not be too corrupt. If I remember correctly, Ukraine was not considered last year because it was not poor enough, but maybe the poverty threshold has increased, allowing a "lower-medium income" country to join the category of "poor" Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Albania, etc. Last year, Georgia and Armenia received aid as full participants, whereas Moldova did not receive any aid, because of levels of corruption, as evaluated by Transparency International and by Freedom House Nations in Transit, that were too high. Ukraine is now in the same boat as Moldova (deserving of "some", but not "full") aid because of corruption. Both countries had corruption scores in the past that were good enough for them to quality, but not this year, despite some improvement of the scores for both countries. If the situation before the coming to power of the Communists in Moldova in 2001, and by the early Kuchma period in Ukraine, both countries would have qualified, this is not the case, but I believe that next year both would qualify. My guess is that Ukraine would get more than $ 100 million in aid from this account.

All the best,

Ionas

Ionas Aurelian Rus wrote:
US MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION: MOLDOVA INCLUDED FOR THE FIRST TIME
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
November 8, 2005

Washington, D.C. - Today, the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) selected a total of 13 countries to participate in the Threshold Program for fiscal year 2006.

The Threshold Program is designed to assist countries that do not qualify but are close and are committed to undertaking the reforms necessary to improve policy performance that may eventually help them qualify for Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Compact assistance.

The Board selected 13 countries to participate in the Threshold Program: Guyana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Malawi, Moldova, Paraguay, Philippines, São Tomé and Principe, Ukraine, Uganda, and Zambia.

Since its establishment last year, MCC has signed Compacts with five nations, Madagascar, Honduras, Cape Verde, Nicaragua, and Georgia, totaling over $900 million. MCC is also actively engaging with other MCA-eligible countries in Compact negotiations and currently expects to sign three more within the next few months.

Under the fiscal year 2005 Threshold Program, MCC has committed nearly $13 million to help improve girls' primary education in Burkina Faso and almost $21 million to help Malawians fight corruption. Additional threshold plans are in the final stages of completion and are expected to be received by MCC within the next few months. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government corporation designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people that promote economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.

* * *