The Millennium Challenge Corporation, or MCC, celebrated the close of its Compact program with the Government of Senegal in Dakar on November 19, during a National Results Forum presided by U.S. Ambassador to Senegal James P. Zumwalt and Diatourou Ndiaye, Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister.
The $540 million MCC Compact, signed in 2009 by the Governments of the United States and Senegal, aimed to reduce poverty and increase economic growth by unlocking the country’s agricultural productivity and expanding access to markets and services.
The two primary Compact projects, Roads Rehabilitation and Irrigation and Water Resource Management, made strategic investments in the road network and essential irrigation schemes focused in the Casamance region and the Senegal River Valley.
The Senegal Compact is a strong example of MCC's inclusive approach to development, building infrastructure that is designed to spur market economic activity and increase incomes of targeted beneficiaries, and establish supporting policy and administrative systems to lock in results.
Through the Senegal Compact, MCC financed the construction or rehabilitation of large-scale irrigation systems with 245 kilometers of canals covering over 38,000 hectares. The compact created a 450-hectare irrigated perimeter that will help farmers grow more rice, fruits and vegetables. Importantly, MCC awarded more than 8,600 land use certificates covering over 15,200 hectares, and incorporated more than 10,000 new plots into the count. The compact also rehabilitated two critical road corridors, including construction and improvements to two major bridges and many markets in the country’s north and south.
MCC estimates that over the next 20 years, more than 1.5 million Senegalese will increase their household incomes by $720 million as a result of the Compact.
In his address at the Results Forum, Ambassador Zumwalt cited numerous accomplishments of the five-year program, concluding that “Thanks to these investments, Senegalese will have access to better household incomes. And with this access, I have faith that they can afford better living conditions for themselves and their families now and in the future. It is a great honor for the US Government to contribute to this remarkable evolution that will increase economic access to those who need it most.”
