Threshold Countries

There have been 23 countries named eligible for Threshold Program funding, including Liberia that was chosen in the FY 2009 selection. The following is a list of all Threshold eligible countries with the year which they were first deemed eligible in parentheses.

Mauritania underwent a coup in August 2008 and negotiations for their Threshold Program were subsequently suspended.

Yemen, suspended in November of 2005 for a deterioration in performance on several indicators, had its Threshold eligibility reinstated on February 14, 2007 due to its demonstrated commitment to reforms addressing indicator slippage. Currently, it is not threshold eligible.

Countries with approved Threshold Programs are marked with an asterisk (*).  Countries with approved Threshold Stage II programs are marked with a double asterisk (*).  Countries that are not longer eligible are in italics.

Albania** (2004)
Burkina Faso* (2005)
Guyana* (2005)
Indonesia* (2006)
Jordan* (2006)
Kenya* (2004)
Kyrgyz Republic* (2006)

Liberia (2009)
Malawi* (2005)
Mauritania (2008)
Moldova* (2006)
Niger (2007)
Paraguay** (2005)
Peru* (2007)
Philippines* (2006)
Rwanda* (2006)
Sao Tome and Principe* (2004)
Tanzania* (2004)
Timor-Leste (2004, 2009)
Uganda* (2004)
Ukraine* (2006, 2009)
Yemen* (2004)
Zambia* (2005)

To date, twenty-three countries have been approved for Threshold Program funding: Philippines, Ukraine, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Tanzania, Paraguay, Albania, Jordan, Moldova, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Kenya, Uganda, Guyana, the Kyrgyz Republic, Sao Tome and Principe, Yemen, Niger, Peru, Rwanda, Liberia and Mauritania worth a total of $398 million.

The legislation authorizing the MCA allows for up to 10% of total MCA funds to be directed towards any country that "demonstrates a significant commitment to meet the [selection] requirements but fails to meet such requirements (including by reason of the absence or unreliability of data)." This clause is the basis for the Threshold Program which is to be administered through USAID in cooperation with the MCC.

Countries eligible for the Threshold Program are invited to submit funding proposals geared towards improving their performance in the indicators they missed in the selection process. Visit the Threshold Program country pages to review each country's performance on the indicators.

MCA Threshold Program Focus by Country and Indicator

The MCC established the Threshold Program to help those countries that are near eligibility and committed to reform to improve their rankings on MCC policy indicators. This chart (PDF) shows, for each Threshold country, which indicators failed at the time of Threshold eligibility and what reforms the Threshold Program targets. All but four Threshold Programs (Burkina Faso, Guyana, Jordan, and Sao Tome and Principe) focus on the control of corruption.