While we appreciate Ken Adelman's description of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) as "[t]he best government innovation of the past decade," ("Saving the MCC from the Solyndra Effect,"December 12, 2011), we wanted to set the record straight about how the projects in MCC's grantagreement (or compact) with Indonesia were selected.
Mr. Adelman's main criticism of MCC's compact with Indonesia was that MCC did not allow theIndonesians to "choose how best to help their own people to prosperity," but instead selected theGreen Prosperity Project for them. In fact, the compact was developed in a manner consistent withMCC's core principle of country-led development and the projects included in the compact reflectpriorities identified by the people of Indonesia through an extensive public consultation process.
The Government of Indonesia (GOI) developed the Green Prosperity Project to support its commitmentto environmentally sustainable, less carbon intensive development, as reflected in Indonesia's goal toreduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020 while maintaining a target of seven percentannual economic growth.
The objective of the Green Prosperity Project is to increase productivity in project areas by expandingaccess to renewable energy and improving land use practices. This objective is consistent with MCC'score mission to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth and directly supports Indonesia'sown goals to expand economic development while also reducing pressure on forests and other naturalassets that people rely on for their livelihoods and well-being.
All projects supported by the Green Prosperity Project must demonstrate a suitable economic rate ofreturn and be developed with appropriate environmental and social safeguard measures consistent withGOI and MCC requirements and international best practices.
MCC maintains a distinct model for development -- one that is country-driven, reform-centered andresults-focused -- which allows us to maximize the effectiveness and sustainability of the projectswe fund. MCC's model embodies the principles of development effectiveness and we maintain acommitment to mutual accountability and shared responsibility with our partner countries in order todeliver tangible results wherever we work around the world.