At the national level, both as a development agency and as the agency that supports coherence and delivering as one for results, we work through partnerships, with national and local authorities and with civil society, and interventions in our key focus areas of poverty reduction and institution and capacity building efforts to help build political support for education through promoting pro-poor policy choices and measures in national development strategies and frameworks and through strengthening cross-sectoral linkages in implementation. Madam Chair, The draft recommendations placed before us already provide a general framework to further enhance the right to education of minorities, and we would like to make 3 observations: 1. On the recommendation concerning the budgetary allocations (page 4 of the draft recommendations), it may be useful to highlight the important role that the Parliaments could play in budgeting and oversight. Therefore, it is particularly important that minorities are represented in Parliaments and have a strong voice in the process. The recommendation could also be strengthened by highlighting the need to institutionalize the role of the Standing Committees in the pre-budget debates. 2. Increased citizen involvement in the fiscal process is crucial for efficiency and effectiveness of resource allocations in the education sector, as in the social sector. That can best be done through strong partnerships between representatives of minorities, CSOs and human rights organizations, and national and local authorities. 3. Beyond political will, lack of technical and policy capacity can be one of the core challenges that may contribute to non-strategic allocation and spending on education. Hence, constructive engagement and capacity development support for relevant line ministries and departments is necessary. This is where development partners, bilateral and multilateral can play a decisive role. Thank you for your attention. 2