By Cristina Malai Turturica, Vice President for Technical Direction and Business Development

For Millennium Partners, 2023 was a remarkable year. In June, Millennium Partners received the prestigious Small Business of the Year award for fiscal year 2022 from the USAID Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization for creative solutions, exceptional customer service, innovative ideas, and cost-efficient delivery. Over the last twenty years, our mission has been to deliver high quality, sustainable solutions to governments and communities around the world. The following encapsulates the lessons learned and approaches that have contributed to Millennium’s successful program implementation.

Millennium’s Addressing Hate-based Crimes in Moldova Project’s December Training

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Fostering E-governance, Combating Corruption and Bolstering Economic Development

Millennium Partners’ USAID/Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) E-Governance Activity—a $10.5 million, five-year activity—continued to revolutionize public services and mitigate corruption through innovative digital solutions. In 2022, legislative amendments prepared by the Activity laid the foundation for the full implementation of e-signature services, enabling faster and more efficient commercial transactions and improving access to government services. In 2023, our project launched the new cloud-based Border Inspection Management System. The system has significantly enhanced border inspection’s speed and transparency, providing a boost to critically needed trade and commerce in BiH. The project has also completed work on the e-Construction Permits System for streamlined permitting, and designed an electronic system to enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency in public procurement.

A key lesson learned from our e-governance work in BiH is the need for a holistic approach, guided by the USAID Principles for Digital Development, to ensure lasting results.^[1] This involved assessing the digital ecosystems—the people, businesses and systems that will interact with the new IT solutions and services; aligning the development of e-governance systems with the country’s strategic goals to ensure buy-in and sustainability; adopting a user-centric design that implements the “once-only” principle for accessing government services; incorporating security protocols; establishing interoperability across diverse systems; and providing comprehensive technical training for users and beneficiaries.

In October, Millennium’s home office team visited Sarajevo and its formidable E-Governance team. “It was exciting to see real results and to realize how much impact the work of the E-governance Activity will have on the people and economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Brian Hannon, Millennium Partners CEO.

Moldova and Ethiopia: Making Persistent Progress Amidst Conflict

In Moldova, Millennium Partners successfully concluded the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) Access to Justice project (ATJ) amidst an economic, political, and humanitarian crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Undaunted, our ATJ team continued its work to improve legal awareness and assist for over 1.2 million people, increase the capacity of 1,800 legal aid service providers and 10 human rights NGOs to better serve persons whose rights have been violated. A crucial ATJ project lesson was the importance of seizing opportunities and adopting creative approaches in the midst of instability and crisis. A second lesson was that building strong and diverse networks maximizes the impact of interventions. ATJ’s “National Campaign for Healthy Justice” exemplified this by tapping into the collective expertise of human rights organizations and media to produce and disseminate over 1,500 outreach materials, boosting legal literacy and tackling fake news and misinformation. “ATJ provided invaluable legal aid and facilitated access to justice for thousands of Moldovans in very trying times for that country—both during the pandemic and during the humanitarian crises spill-over caused by the war in neighboring Ukraine,” said Esther Hannon, Millennium Partners President.

In August 2023, Millennium Partners concluded the USAID/Ethiopia Feteh (Justice) Activity ($25 million). Feteh worked tirelessly with the Ethiopian government, civil society leaders, and a host of local experts and scholars to bring about positive change in Ethiopia’s legal landscape. Feteh provided legislative drafting support for 71 human rights legal documents, trained over 7,000 persons on rule of law and ethics, reached over 40,000 people through TV and radio programs, provided free legal aid to over 4,142 persons, and implemented over 35 projects in partnership with academic institutions. Feteh’s key lesson from operating in a conflict-torn environment is that re-building national trust in rule of law requires inclusive collaboration among institutions, media, academia, and civil society.

Millennium Partners’ Vision for 2024

Millennium Partners is gearing up for an exciting year with two new projects: Addressing Hate-based Crimes in Moldova, awarded by DRL in June 2023, and the USAID Global Accountability Program/Strengthening National Architectures to Counter Corruption (GAP/SNA) Activity ($28.9 million, five-year) awarded in September, dedicated to enhancing partner country systems and capacity to combat corruption. We look forward to the year ahead as we build on our successes and strengthen our global partnerships.

About the Author:
Cristina Malai Turturica joined Millennium Partners in August 2022 as Vice President for Technical Direction and Business Development. With over 25 years of experience advising and managing donor-funded legal reform projects in Moldova, Kosovo, and Ukraine, she now provides program management and technical direction for Millennium Partners’ overseas projects. Cristina also assists the home office in business development, communications, and outreach.

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1. https://www.usaid.gov/digital-strategy/implementation-tracks/track3-switch-digital-default/principles-digital-development ↑