Project: Technical Support for MCC’s Early Analysis

Limestone and its subcontractors, Social Development Direct and Causal Design, were awarded a contract to support MCC’s Social Analysis unit in their Early Analysis process. To date, the team has completed 18 technical directives. Examples of support include:

• Context Analysis
  The first step in early analysis has been conducting context analysis in MCC’s new selects. For each country, the team develops a context memo which provides a high-level summary of each country’s distribution of growth, main barriers to economic opportunities, entrepreneurship, and labour, with a particular focus on women’s economic empowerment. This analysis relies on academic and grey literature, as well as analysis of quantitative data where relevant. Context analysis has been completed for Belize, Zambia, Mauritania, The Gambia, Togo, Senegal, Cabo Verde, Tanzania, the Philippines, Albania, and Liberia.
• Constraints Analysis
  Constraints analysis builds on the context analysis phase and involves several key steps: drafting a country narrative that links identified constraints to high-level development outcomes; producing a brief on the distribution and impact of the constraints; drafting individual memos for each constraint; and responding to feedback and incorporating revisions as needed. The specific constraints analyzed vary by country. For example, in Togo, they included electricity, digital skills, ICT, tax, and the entrepreneurship ecosystem. In Mauritania, the focus was on access to finance, electricity, environmental risk, and macro- and microeconomic risks. In addition to Togo and Mauritania, constraints analyses were also conducted in Belize, Zambia, The Gambia, Tanzania, and the Philippines.
• Root Cause Analysis
  Root cause analysis is the final phase of MCC’s analytical process, aimed at unpacking the underlying drivers of identified constraints. Support during this phase has included facilitating stakeholder consultations with organizations and key informants to gather deeper insights; conducting targeted research to better understand constraint dynamics; and developing problem tree diagrams that map root causes, with particular attention to how women and youth may be differentially affected. For example, in Togo, the team produced an analysis memo building on earlier findings, exploring how low and intermediate digital skills—both in schools and the broader community—affect women and youth populations. In Kiribati, support involved developing a detailed consultation plan, assisting with data collection in Tarawa and selected outer islands, and drafting reports and memos to assess how different communities are impacted by candidate constraints. Root cause analysis has been conducted in Togo, Kiribati, Mauritania, The Gambia, and Senegal.
• Guidance and Tool Development
  In addition to supporting country-level analysis, the team developed guidelines to help the Social Analysis team conduct early analysis more effectively. The team also created tools to streamline future analyses, including a meta-analytical review of transport investments. This review summarized evidence on the impacts of various types of road and port rehabilitation and construction, drawing from project evaluations, quasi-experimental studies of changes along transport corridors over time, and systematic reviews of road investment outcomes.