Dhaka to seek access to MCA

Apart from improving its record on corruption, Bangladesh has to resolve the Grameen Bank issue in an acceptable manner and ensure that no new law hampers operation of NGOs in the country to qualify for US funds to fight poverty.
The two new issues were included in the first Bangladesh-US Partnership Dialogue in Washington in September, which would be crucial for Bangladesh's access to the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), said government officials.
“On Bangladesh's repeated insistence on access to the MCA, the US delegation remarked that improvement on three issues -- namely corruption perception index, Grameen Bank and the proposed NGO law could enable Bangladesh access to the MCA," according to a report that the foreign ministry prepared on the dialogue.
Bangladesh made an attempt to get the MCA fund during the tenure of the last caretaker government but it failed.
Asking not to be named, a finance ministry official said they will again apply for the MCA fund early next year.
If Bangladesh manages to meet all requirements of the MCA, it may get $600 million in aid in two phases.
In the first week of November, the foreign ministry sent its report to other ministries for taking follow-up actions on the issues discussed during the dialogue.
An 18-member Bangladesh delegation headed by outgoing foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes attended the dialogue in Washington on September 19-20. US Assistant Secretary of State Robert A Blake led the US delegation.
According to the foreign ministry report, the US side expressed concern over the Grameen Bank issue and hoped it would be resolved in an acceptable manner.
The report further said the issue of the Nobel prize winning organisation was linked to women empowerment and advancement of small and medium enterprises in Bangladesh. An acceptable settlement of the "troubling" issue was mentioned in relation to Bangladesh's accession to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
In the meeting, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's issues Melanne Verbeer described Bangladesh as a “model of the world” for what could be done for uplifting women from the lower stages of the society.
She said both Grameen Bank and Brac, the world's largest non-governmental organisation, are globally enviable Bangladeshi brands, which have been replicated throughout the world, according to the report.
Verbeer, who toured Bangladesh in September this year, also mentioned that Bangladesh government's recent steps regarding Grameen Bank were perceived to have disenfranchised the women borrowers of the bank.
She hoped that the issue would be amicably resolved soon, said the report.
Ambassador Michael Kozak, senior advisor of bureau of democracy, human rights and labour of the US State Department, said the US hoped the proposed Foreign Donations (voluntary activities) Regulation Ordinance 2011 would not create any impediment to smooth operation of NGOs in Bangladesh.
The report said the US delegation acknowledged Bangladesh's concern about the work of some NGOs and the need for strong monitoring system and transparency of accounts. But at the same time, it advocated for easing the procedure of funding, registration and work permit for the interested local and international NGOs to work in the country.
During the dialogue, the Bangladesh delegation said the country had already fulfilled 10 out of 20 requirements to qualify for assistance from the MCA.
It said a number of countries ranking lower than Bangladesh on the indicator receive assistance for both compact and threshold programme. It urged the USA to consider Bangladesh's case.
The MCA is a US government programme that provides grants to poor countries to fight poverty. There are two primary types of MCC grants: compacts and threshold programmes.
MCC has approved over $8.4 billion in compact and threshold programmes worldwide.
Compacts are large, five-year grants for countries that pass MCC's eligibility criteria. Threshold programmes are smaller grants awarded to countries that come close to passing these criteria and are firmly committed to improving their policy performance.
A country needs to show good performance in 17 such indicators, including corruption, health, education, rule of law and the government's effectiveness, to become eligible for finance from the MCC that was created in 2004 by the US congress.
Bangladesh lags behind in nine out of 17 measurement indicators to qualify for MCC fund, according to the MCC website.
In October, US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena told reporters in Dhaka that corruption remains the major barrier for Bangladesh to getting funds from the MCA.
Bangladesh's scorecard in all measurement criteria is not up to the mark to qualify for assistance from the MCA, he said.
There are certain areas where Bangladesh's scorecard is green, and in some cases the scorecard is red, he said. "So, we started discussions on how to turn red to green and how to deal with more difficult issues like corruption."
“I singled out corruption because it is the one that must be green," said the US ambassador.