By Cristina Malai Turturica, Vice President for Technical Direction and Business Development
Established in 2005 by Esther and Brian Hannon, Millennium Partners (www.millenniumpartners.org) is a woman-owned small business based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Our mission is to deliver high quality, sustainable, inclusive, and localized solutions to governments and communities around the world.
Millennium Partners has implemented over $120 million in programs in Moldova, Ethiopia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Egypt, North Macedonia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Niger, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Liberia, and Benin. These programs were funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), and the US Department of State. Millennium Partners is a prime contract holder of the USAID Active Communities Effective States (ACES) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ), focusing on good governance, anti-corruption, and other areas.
Big Achievements for Small Business
Millennium Partners has consistently demonstrated its proficiency in managing large-scale projects, challenging the perception of small businesses implementing only “small” projects. For example, from 2019 to 2023, Millennium implemented the USAID/Ethiopia Feteh (Justice) Activity, a $21.5 million contract designed to provide rapid response technical assistance to Ethiopia’s government and civil society organizations (CSOs) to support the judicial reform process and human rights.
In September 2023, Millennium was awarded the Global Accountability Program/Strengthening National Architectures to Counter Corruption (GAP/SNA) contract, a $29 million five-year global, regional, and country level anti-corruption activity. Under GAP/SNA, Millennium will be working in every region of the world, assisting governments, CSOs, and international organizations to counter corruption.
Millennium’s recent accolade from the USAID Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) Awards Committee, naming us the Small Business of the Year for Fiscal Year 2022, recognizes Millennium’s outstanding contribution to international development programs, exceptional customer service, innovative ideas, and cost-efficient delivery.
“Through its work, Millennium Partners is committed to building just and inclusive societies that provide fair and equal opportunities for all its members. We have always strived to bring local talent, knowledge and capabilities to the fore, empowering local leaders and communities to achieve lasting results,” stated Esther Hannon, Millennium’s President.
Elevating E-Governance
Millennium Partners has a strong e-governance portfolio, leveraging modern technologies to build and implement state-of-the-art e-governance solutions in Bosnia, Moldova, Kosovo, Ethiopia, and other countries. Our innovative e-solutions ensure citizens have fair and equal access to government services.
This can be seen in our USAID-funded E-Governance Activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where Millennium is creating sound digital ecosystems aligned with European Union (EU) standards and BiH international human rights commitments. We developed key e-services for customs and inspection services, municipal-level e-construction permits, and launched a modern e-procurement system. Millennium’s work has paved the way for using country-wide e-signature and alignment with the European Union, which will accelerate trade and investment in the BiH economy. We have embedded the Open Data Concept into the E-Systems development, for example, training 113 watchdog CSO representatives to monitor and report on data provided through the new e-procurement system, thus reducing opportunities for corruption.
Under the USAID/Ethiopia Feteh (Justice) Activity (2019-2023), Millennium established smart IT training facilities (Smart Lab) for the Oromia Regional Supreme Court and Federal Supreme Court in Addis Ababa. Millennium worked with the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Supreme Court, and the House of People’s Representatives to embed human rights standards in all reforms, including judicial digitalization efforts.
To cement and build upon gains in digitizing Ethiopia’s courts, Millennium Partners’ Feteh project installed a fully functional IT training center — a Smart Lab — in Lideta for the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia.
Under the $7.5 million USAID/Moldova Open Justice Project (2017-2020), Millennium developed and implemented an interoperable cloud-based Integrated Case Management System (ICMS) and an E-filing module interconnected with Civil and Business Registries. We also developed procedures related to cyber security for the Private Cloud Computing Platform and for the E-government Center and we trained 3,673 justice sector stakeholders on cyber security and data privacy.
“Open Justice revolutionized the way Moldovan courts operate. The IT solutions and especially the videoconferencing systems that OJP supplied allowed the Moldovan judiciary to stay operational during the Covid-19 pandemic, thus providing access to justice,” said Brian Hannon, Millennium Partners CEO.
Through the USAID/Kosovo Justice Systems Strengthening Program (2015-2020), Millennium’s $11.3 million contract developed a refined Case Management System, new websites for the Kosovo Judicial Council and the Constitutional Court, an online performance dashboard, an online court user survey, court fee calculator, case status lookup tool, court hearing schedules, court judgments, and an online citizens’ corner.
Aligned with USAID Principles for Digital Development, Millennium’s e-governance projects employ a human-centric approach. Through this commitment, Millennium underscores its dedication to responsible and effective technology utilization, thereby fostering economic inclusivity and encouraging digital solution investments in host countries.
For detailed information about Millennium Partners, please visit our website: www.millenniumpartners.org and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/millennium-partners-consulting
