Millennium Challenge Corporation

Hiya friends. I'm happily interning this summer in Washington, D.C. for Millennium Challenge Corporation. MCC is a federal agency for international development.

It is new, small agency trying a new approach to effective development. I work in the Monitoring and Evaluation team(M&E), in the Department of Compact Implementation. Compacts are contracts made between the U.S. gov't and a recipient country's gov't for a 5-yr period of development projects that are budgeted and planned before actually implementing the projects. The projects, such as building roads, improving irrigation farming, or improving land title administration, must all lend to a total economic rate of return that is high enough to justify the money our government puts into them. Only certain countries are eligible for compacts because they have to meet certain criteria for selection. During my internship I'm working on data management for 7 countries closing out their compacts, research on Benin land tenure impact evaluation, Mali M&E work plan details, and Progress towards Outcomes narrative reports on close-out country projects.

I like the people I work with and the amazing background and experiences they bring to the table. I really enjoy the overall make up of the population in this whole DC/Virginia area. There is much diversity, and I find people so similar to me with many of the same interests (development, exercise, reading, art, you name it!) around every corner. Two employees near my desk at work do triathlons regularly (and helped me get pumped for my first one- you'll hear about it in the fall!), I met a guy who works for the World Bank in my swim lane at the YMCA, there are girls in my ward that work for USAID and the DOD, and the list goes on! A lot of guys and girls in my ward have jobs and hobbies I'm interested in, so it's a great opportunity to rub shoulders with them. Anyway, what a great summer experience. I love the girls I live with in our cute house in Arlington too. The house needed work, they fixed it up, and now I wish I didn't have to go since the girls and the house have grown on me. I like the fact that I can work in the city, have fun in the city, but then I can live in a homey neighborhood where my jog to the gym looks like this:




And then what are the chances that I'm only two (or three?) metro stops from Arlington Cemetery? It's wonderful.



I love it all. Oh well, one more year of grad school after this summer and then I'll be OFF!! It'll be a great year, especially considering I get to go back and live with Michelle and Eileen again. Lots of stuff going on this coming year though... you might not hear much from me then, so soak it in now! :)

PS- Random note: Did you know that 70% of retired NFL players go bankrupt? (Due to things like inability to kick old spending habits and health problems - e.g., repeated concussions can really cause impairment and early death!) Man, I wouldn't want to go pro...

I learned these things on my favorite podcast: "stuff you should know"