The greatest achievement of the MCAN to date occurred before the compact even entered into force. As a pre-condition for compact funds to start flowing, Nicaragua had to pass legislation to secure funds for the Road Maintenance Fund (or FOMAV by its initials in Spanish) to cover maintenance costs of all Nicaraguan roads (not just those funded by the MCC). Other donors had been encouraging this reform for some time, but lacked political will and faced stiff resistance from the National Assembly whose members saw the creation of a new tax as politically unpalatable (FOMAV draws funds from a gas tax). In the words of one government official, the passage of the law was "unthinkable" before the arrival of the MCC. With the additional incentive of the $175 million of MCC funds, the National Assembly finally passed the bill.
Not only did the MCC offer the carrot of new funds, the GON MCAN team (prior to establishment of the foundation) and Nicaragua-based MCC officials built a constituency for the reform. They engaged in strategic and genuine consultation with local government officials and department-level development councils to help them understand the importance of investing in road maintenance. This was no easy task. In the words of one government official, "Politicians like to inaugurate new public works, but maintenance is not tangible in the eyes of the public," so there is little incentive to invest in it. This means that roads deteriorate quickly making travel arduous, isolating communities from vital social services, and threatening economic activity dependent on the roads. The GON MCAN and Nicaragua-based MCC team helped local authorities see the importance of maintained roads for the sustainability of rural business development activities and that investment in regular maintenance promotes cost-savings over time. They made the FOMAV more appealing to local authorities by advocating for a dedicated portion for municipalities. It also broke with donor tradition and committed to funding secondary roads rather than just international thoroughfares, and invited the authorities to weigh in on which roads the MCAN would fund. These local officials, in turn, lobbied the National Assembly. With political pressure from the departments, as well as political cover from the donors’ demands, the National Assembly passed the FOMAV funding legislation in December 2005 with a unanimous vote despite a mounting energy crisis in the country.
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