The Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF) is a unique and ambitious global programme that supports citizen engagement in education sector policy planning, budgeting and monitoring. CSEF operates in a number of Global Partnership for Education (GPE) affiliated developing countries.CSEF is founded on a shared understanding among key stakeholders that strong, broad-based and locally-driven civil society participation in these processes is crucial to ensuring the delivery of national and international education goals and to holding governments to account for commitments to education. CSEF was set up by the Global Campaign for Education in 2009 to support the core work of national education coalitions so that civil society can fully engage with and track the progress of national governments and donor groups working towards the United Nations Education For All (EFA) goals. The CSEF programme was developed and is managed by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), in close collaboration with regional implementing partners. GCE and its partners believe civil society has a distinct and crucial role to play in holding governments and donors accountable, to ensure relevance and equity within education plans, programmes and budgets. This requires the broad-based and informed participation of citizens, and this participation is dependent on effective and coordinated civil society formations to facilitate engagement. CSEF therefore focuses its support on national civil society coalitions, with nationally driven agendas.