MCC and Transparency
MCC has been at the forefront of promoting transparency in international development. Among its accomplishments, MCC ranked as the world’s most transparent bilateral donor on the Publish What You Fund (PWYF) 2024 Aid Transparency Index, and third in the world among major development agencies, for its commitment to transparent operations, public accountability, and using data for effective and inclusive decision-making. PWYF also ranked MCC as the most transparent U.S. development agency for the ninth consecutive time since the Index was first piloted in 2011.Data on prospective, current, and closed partner country programs are available on MCC.gov. The following links include selections of publicly available resources on countries being considered for investment, active programs, post-closeout evaluations, information on procurement opportunities, and reports and documents published in the Federal Register.
MCC Partner Country Data Resources
MCC Compact Program Resources
MCC Compact Evaluation Resources
MCC Business Documents
- Reports and guidance documents
- Upcoming and awarded procurements
MCC's Commitment to Transparency
Consistent with current U.S. Government policy, MCC decisions on public release of information are based on a presumption of disclosure. If information does not meet any of the exceptions laid out by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or in other regulations or presidential memos, MCC works to disclose the information.MCC’s decisions are guided by:
- MCC Open Government Plan—The Plan outlines information the agency makes publicly available and describes priorities for new initiatives planned to further improve access to MCC information.
- Policy on Access to Materials—This policy describes the exceptions to the presumption of disclosure and clarifies the level of clearance required for release of various documents. This policy helps MCC staff determine whether a document should be released publicly while maintaining the highest standards for sensitive information, personal privacy and other reasons as laid out in FOIA or elsewhere. The policy was approved in March 2014.
- Disclosure Review Board—MCC’s independent evaluations are conducted to document the outputs, outcomes and impact of our investments. These investments often involve large-scale survey data collection efforts. MCC believes this data constitutes a global public good and aims to release it to the public while maintaining the highest legal and ethical standards. MCC formed a Disclosure Review Board to ensure survey data meets sufficient anonymization procedures before it is publicly released.
- MCC’s Data Analytics Program (DAP)—Enables enterprise data-driven decision making through the capture, storage, analysis, publishing, and governance of MCC’s core programmatic data. The DAP streamlines the agency’s data lifecycle, facilitating increased efficiency. Additionally, the program promotes agency-wide coordination, learning, and transparency. For example, MCC has developed custom software applications to capture program data, established the infrastructure for consolidated storage and analysis, and connected robust data sources to end user tools that power up-to-date, dynamic reporting and will ultimately streamline content maintenance on MCC’s public website.
Public and Government Participation with MCC
MCC promotes opportunities for public participation in its processes and operations, both domestically and internationally. These opportunities have included:- MCC makes data on planned, obligated, and spent funding, as well as information regarding specific transactions, available on the Foreign Assistance Dashboard;
- MCC’s Open Data Challenges encouraged undergraduate and graduate students to use MCC’s publicly available data to more deeply analyze MCC’s work;
- MCC participated in a proactive disclosure pilot for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests launched by the Department of Justice, during which participating agencies published their records released online;
- FOIA requests can be submitted to MCC via email; and,
- MCC compacts are developed using a two-way consultative process that takes into account stakeholder input and local-level perspectives in partner countries.
Collaboration with MCC
Collaboration and partnerships with federal and independent agencies, the public, and private and non-governmental organizations can amplify the impact of MCC investments. Some of our collaborations include:- Data Collaboratives for Local Impact is a collaboration between MCC and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), in conjunction with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, to improve programs and policies in sub-Saharan Africa using data on HIV/AIDS, global health, gender equality and economic growth;
- Data2X, a United Nations Foundation initiative, works to improve the availability and use of sex-disaggregated data. Higher-quality data on the status of women and girls can guide policy, improve the investment environment, and shape global development agendas. MCC worked to make all of its gender data public, and collaborated with the United Nations Development Program and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to better integrate sex-disaggregated data into International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) reporting standards.