USD 140 million will be invested in Georgian education to stimulate the labor force in the country through the US state- supported five-year compact of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. This will be the second compact implemented by MCC to Georgia.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), signed the USD 140 million compact with the government of Georgia on July 26, 2013 so as to invest in improving labor force development and human capital.
“Georgia is a partner that understands our approach to development,” MCC CEO Daniel W. Yohannes said at the signing ceremony in Tbilisi. “The compact we signed today is a USD140 million investment in an area of critical importance for long-term economic growth: the education of Georgia’s workforce.”
The compact seeks to increase Georgians’ earning potential by addressing weaknesses in quality of education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and strengthening Georgia’s ability to attract investment in fast-growing sectors such as energy and transportation. The compact will build on recent policy reforms that Georgia has made in its education sector and includes three projects as following: improving General Education Quality Project will focus on teacher training and school rehabilitation; the Industry-Led Skills and Workforce Development Project will target improvements in technical skills education; and the STEM Higher Education Project will aim to modernize higher education in engineering programs leading to bachelor degrees.
These investments will strengthen the capacity of Georgians to meet the needs of Georgia’s economy, create jobs and better position Georgia to be a strong trade partner of the United States. American firms exported more than USD 540 million in goods to Georgia last year, up from USD 300 million in 2010.
The underway compact is a follow up to the first MCC five-year compact implemented within 2006-2011 and investing up to USD 400 million in development of rural Georgia through five programmatic activities focused on infrastructure rehabilitation and development, as well as credit and market access to small and medium enterprises involved in agriculture.