Namibia’s Millennium Challenge Compact

The MCA Namibia Compact, providing grant funding for public investments in Education, Tourism and Agriculture (livestock and indigenous natural products),was signed on 28 July 2008 between the Republic of Namibia and the US Government, acting through the MCC.  An amount of US$304.5 million will be available for development in the target sectors, over and above current Government allocations and assistance from other development partners.

The Goal of Namibia’s MCA Compact is to reduce poverty through economic growth in the Education, Tourism and Agriculture sectors.  To accomplish the Compact Goal of increasing income, the MCA Namibia Programme aims to achieve the following objectives:

• Increase the competence of the Namibian workforce (knowledge, skills and attitude)
• Increase the productivity of agricultural and non-agricultural enterprises in rural areas.

The Compact aims to improve the quality of education and training for the underserved populations, and attempts to capitalize on Namibia’s comparative advantages to increase the incomes of the poor Namibians, predominantly in the northern communal areas of the country. 

Millennium Challenge Account Namibia – Administration

The Compact includes approximately US$39 million for administrative and oversight costs of the projects, including the costs of administration, management, auditing, fiscal & procurement agent services, monitoring & evaluation, and environmental & social oversight. 

The MCA Namibia Management Unit, a programme implementation unit within the National Planning Commission, has been functionally established.  Ms. Penny T. Akwenye is MCA Namibia’s Chief Executive Officer.  The Commissioners of the National Planning Commission function as the MCA Namibia Board.  MCA Namibia’s implementing partners are the Ministries of Education; Environment & Tourism; Agriculture, Water & Forestry; Lands & Resettlement; the Namibia Training Authority and the Namibia Tourism Board.  The MCA Namibia Management Unit is operating from the Atlas House (cnr. of Mandume Ndemufayo/Sam Nujoma Drive) and can be reached at +264-61-410400 (switchboard) or 410415 (fax) or info@mcanamibia.org