Assessing the Evaluation Methods of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Latin American Compact Projects

Abstract

International development agencies have, for decades, worked to remedy global development challenges. One of these agencies is the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). This study explores the MCC’s Latin American programming via its evaluations. It specifically assesses the technical soundness of the MCC’s Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador evaluations, as well what the findings and soundness of evaluations mean for future projects in the region. Through document analysis, this study found that the average evaluation was technically sound, as it employed consistent, appropriate, and objective metrics. However, evaluation structure varied according to author and proprietor agency. External evaluations did not directly contradict the findings of MCC-sponsored evaluations. Evaluations were not inclusive to the intended recipients of MCC programming, beneficiary groups. Interviews with the authors of evaluations confirmed these findings. The implications of findings include the importance of culturally competent, inclusive, and multi-faceted development processes that assimilate learning from prior programming. Findings are applicable to development and evaluation processes in Latin America.