Access to education may be enshrined in human rights conventions and the Millennium Development Goals, and billions of dollars of state and donor investment have been pumped into it. But the Global Monitoring Report projects that by 2015 up to 56 million children worldwide will still be out of primary education - a problem by no means restricted to conflict and fragile states. So what further steps can be taken to increase participation in education? And as it does increase, how can quality be maintained?

OPM has worked with national governments and development partners to help drive the debate about education forward. Our experience ranges from analysing existing policies and developing new evidence-based solutions, to building institutional capacity, improving governance and supporting educational budget planning.