Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 178 / Friday, September 13, 2024 / Notices 74997 

2020 (85 FR 58393, 9/18/2020), 29 CFR 

part 1960 (Basic Program Elements of 

for Federal Employee Occupational 

Safety and Health Programs), and 41 

CFR part 102–3. 

Signed at Washington, DC, on September 9, 

2024. 

James S. Frederick, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for 

Occupational Safety and Health. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20808 Filed 9–12–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–26–P 

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE 

CORPORATION 

[MCC FR 24–05] 

Notice of Entering Into a Compact With 

the State of Belize 

AGENCY: Millennium Challenge 

Corporation. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

provisions of the Millennium Challenge 

Act of 2003, as amended, the 

Millennium Challenge Corporation 

(MCC) is publishing a summary of the 

Millennium Challenge Compact 

(Compact) between the United States of 

America and the State of Belize. 

Representatives of the United States of 

America and the State of Belize 

executed the Compact on September 4, 

2024. The complete text of the Compact 

has been posted at: https://

www.mcc.gov/resources/doc/compactbelize/. 

(Authority: 22 U.S.C. 7709 (b)(3)) 

Dated: September 9, 2024. 

Peter E. Jaffe, 

Vice President, General Counsel, and 

Corporate Secretary. 

Summary of Belize Compact 

Overview of MCC Belize Compact 

MCC has signed a five-year, $125 

million compact with the government of 

Belize aimed at reducing poverty 

through economic growth. The Compact 

seeks to assist Belize in addressing two 

binding constraints to economic 

growth—low quality of education and 

high cost of electricity. The Compact 

will address these constraints through 

two primary projects—the Education 

Project and the Energy Project. 

Background and Context 

Belize is a small, diverse, coastal 

nation with a population of 397,483 

(2022). As a stable democracy located at 

the crossroads of the Caribbean and 

Central America, Belize maintains 

strong commercial and educational ties 

to the Caribbean and has increasingly 

strengthened ties with Central America. 

While Belize’s economy has 

historically relied on the export of forest 

products, sugar, and fruit, tourism began 

to expand rapidly in the 1990s, 

contributing to robust real per capita 

income (‘‘PCI’’) growth averaging 4.3% 

for the next decade. However, from 2004 

to 2019 real PCI growth was near zero. 

In 2020, Belize experienced a sharp fall 

in tourism revenue and real PCI fell by 

16%, which caused Belize to be 

classified as a lower middle-income 

country. The economy has since 

rebounded. As of 2018, 52% of the 

population had income below the 

Belizean general poverty line, with four 

socioeconomic groups 

disproportionately affected: Maya 

populations, rural households, women, 

and youth. 

Country Selection and Ongoing 

Eligibility 

MCC’s Board of Directors selected 

Belize as eligible to develop a compact 

in December 2021. In selecting Belize 

for a compact, MCC’s Board made the 

decision to partner with a country that 

has demonstrated a clear commitment to 

democratic governance and tackling 

development challenges.In the year 

following its selection, Belize was 

reclassified by the World Bank as an 

upper middle-income country and 

exited MCC’s candidate country pool. 

The Board has since repeatedly affirmed 

its support for Belize continuing to 

develop a compact with MCC, and the 

country has continued to demonstrate 

its commitment to the principles of 

democratic governance that underpin 

MCC’s eligibility criteria and scorecard. 

Constraints Analysis 

In April 2022, the Government of 

Belize selected two binding constraints 

to economic growth for further program 

development in the education and 

energy sectors. 

The education sector has a severe 

shortage of post-primary graduates as 

well as skilled workers in key 

industries. The Belize education system 

does not produce a sufficient number of 

individuals with the types of 

competencies needed by the labor 

market. Shifts in Belize’s economic and 

employment landscape have increased 

the demand for workers with higher 

levels of qualifications and 21st century 

skills. However, over half of Belize’s 

labor force currently does not have any 

form of post-primary education 

resulting in the first binding constraint 

for the Compact: low quality of 

education that leads to a shortage of 

trained professionals in all industries. 

In the energy sector the cost of 

wholesale electricity is higher than it 

should be compared to a wellfunctioning competitive electricity 

market. The primary driver of high 

electricity rates is the elevated cost of 

purchasing wholesale power, which 

results in the second binding constraint 

for the Compact: high cost of electricity 

that drives up input costs for all 

industries. 

The Government of Belize has shown 

strong country ownership and 

commitment to the Compact through 

their engagement on the technical 

design of the projects, their repeated 

commitment and preliminary progress 

on policy reforms, and their 

commitment of counterpart funding for 

the implementation and long-term 

sustainability of the compact objectives. 

MCC successfully concluded compact 

negotiations with the Government of 

Belize in mid-April and secured 

approval for the $125 million 

investment from the MCC Board of 

Directors on June 26, 2024. The 

Government of Belize and MCC signed 

the Compact on September 4, 2024 in 

Belize City, Belize. 

Project Summaries 

The projects and activities to be 

completed are: 

The Education Project ($73.8 million) 

aims to equitably increase the number of 

post-primary graduates with the 

competencies relevant to labor market 

demands by pursuing the following 

activities and outcomes: 

D Transforming Teaching and 

Learning in Secondary Education 

Activity aims to improve the numeracy, 

literacy, and 21st century skills of 

secondary graduates by improving the 

capability and accountability of the 

Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, 

and Technology, managing authorities, 

educators, and other actors in the 

Belizean educational system for 

providing inclusive, quality education. 

D Access to and Progression through 

Secondary Education Activity aims to 

increase the percentage of primary 

graduates that enroll in and complete 

secondary school. 

D Training and Transitioning to Work 

Activity aims to improve the capability 

of Technical and Vocational Education 

and Training (TVET) providers to 

deliver high quality training demanded 

by the labor market as well as to provide 

inclusive access to these training 

opportunities. 

The project focuses on inclusion and 

equity by intentionally creating 

opportunities across all three activities 

for members of groups that have been 

traditionally excluded in the Belizean 


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74998 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 178 / Friday, September 13, 2024 / Notices 

educational context, particularly 

students living with trauma, those with 

special education needs, immigrant 

students, and indigenous students. 

Additionally, special emphasis will be 

placed on closing gender gaps facing 

male students (in transition, retention, 

and graduation) and female students (in 

participation in workforce preparation). 

The Energy Project ($21.7 million) 

aims to reduce the wholesale cost of 

electricity in real terms through 

supporting the competitive procurement 

of lower cost power purchase 

agreements using energy alternatives 

that would displace higher cost imports 

by pursuing the following activity and 

outcomes: 

D Facilitating New Lower-Cost 

Renewable Generation Activity is 

designed to support Belize in 

implementing its utility scale solarpowered energy expansion plans and 

maintaining the stability of the grid. 

Policy Reform and the Compact 

MCC and Belize jointly identified the 

following key policy reform areas to 

support the sustainability of the 

proposed compact, the timing and 

content of which was negotiated with 

Belize and is included in the compact. 

Key policy reforms of the Education 

Project include reforming the Education 

Act to require national student 

assessments to meet minimum testing 

requirements, school-level results to be 

published, and a more rigorous 

evaluation process for teacher licensing 

and certification. Additional reforms 

include increasing the compulsory 

school age to 16 from 14, ensuring 

access to free secondary education to all 

primary graduates by offering free 

education at all government schools 

and, to ensure adequate geographical 

coverage, select grant-aided schools, and 

requiring each secondary school have a 

dedicated school counselor. 

Key policy reforms of the Energy 

Project include the approval of 

regulations governing the process for 

competitive procurement for electricity 

generation, limits on amendments and 

extensions of power purchase 

agreements to improve transparency and 

protect consumers and revising the grid 

code to clarify the interconnection 

requirements for variable alternative 

forms of energy. 

Compact Overview and Budget 

Below is a summary describing the 

components of the Compact with Belize. 

The anticipated budget for the overall 

program is $165,650,000, with up to 

$125,000,000 under the Compact and 

$40,650,000 of contribution from Belize. 

TABLE 1—BELIZE COMPACT PROGRAM BUDGET

[Million in US$] 

Amount 

MCC Funding by Compact Components 

1. Education Project: 

1.1 Transforming Teaching and Learning in Secondary Education .......................................................................................... $41,045,000 

1.2 Access to and Progression through Secondary Education ................................................................................................. 16,256,000 

1.3 Training and Transitioning to Work ..................................................................................................................................... 16,500,000 

Subtotal ................................................................................................................................................................................. 73,801,000 

2. Energy Project: 

2.1 Facilitating New Lower-Cost Renewable Generation .......................................................................................................... 21,684,000 

Subtotal ................................................................................................................................................................................. 21,684,000 

3. Monitoring and Evaluation ............................................................................................................................................................... 1,820,000 

4. Program Administration and Oversight ........................................................................................................................................... 27,695,000 

Total MCC Compact Funding ....................................................................................................................................................... 125,000,000 

Total Program Funding 

Total MCC Compact Funding .............................................................................................................................................................. 125,000,000 

Government of Belize Contribution ..................................................................................................................................................... 40,650,000 

Total Program ............................................................................................................................................................................... 165,650,000 

[FR Doc. 2024–20752 Filed 9–12–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9211–03–P 

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE 

CORPORATION 

[MCC FR 24–06] 

Notice of Open Meeting 

AGENCY: Millennium Challenge 

Corporation. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

requirements of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act, the Millennium 

Challenge Corporation (MCC) Economic 

Advisory Council was established as a 

discretionary advisory committee on 

October 5, 2018. Its charter was most 

recently renewed on September 30, 

2022, for two additional years. The MCC 

Economic Advisory Council serves MCC 

solely in an advisory capacity and 

provides advice and guidance to MCC 

economists, evaluators, leadership of 

the Department of Policy and 

Evaluation, and senior MCC leadership 

regarding relevant trends in 

development economics, applied 

economic and evaluation methods, 

poverty analytics, as well as modeling, 

measuring, and evaluating development 

interventions. In doing so, the MCC 

Economic Advisory Council helps 

sharpen MCC’s analytical methods and 

capacity in support of the agency’s 

economic development goals. It also 

serves as a sounding board and 

reference group for assessing and 

advising on strategic policy innovations 

and methodological directions in MCC. 


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