Ms Ana Tenorio:

I agree that empowerment is absolutely the long-term goal. Perhaps there is an erosion of civil society engagement because of the crises that we are facing.

However, when the Covid pandemic happened we saw how communities and parents rose to the challenge in the role they could play in supporting their children's education. While we do not wish for parents and communities to replace the formal system and everything that needs to happen there, we also need to recognise they are agents of change if there is an enabling environment and a policy environment that is given space. Education and many such systems are not just formal. They need to be open systems that encourage this engagement and empowerment beyond local civil society organisations. It is about citizenship engagement and how we can promote that through smart policies. I do see potential. Covid brought many terrible things but we did see communities rise to the challenge when their kids were not able to access formal schools.