Civil Society Participation in Education'' (COPE) Contract related to: Civil Society Participation in Education'' (COPE) - Nepal¿s Constitution (2015) guarantees the right to compulsory and free education up to basic level and free secondary education to every citizen. The government, with support from the EU and other partners, has undertaken a series of national programmes in the education sector over the past two decades that have contributed to reducing education inequalities, improving governance, financing, and efficiency. However, challenges remain, especially in learning outcomes and equity in education, especially for girls and marginalised groups. Nepal¿s progress in education has experienced a severe shock with the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased pre-existing disparities in access, participation and learning outcomes. An intensive corrective response over the next years will be necessary to recover the learning losses.The Government of Nepal has worked in close coordination with development partners from 2020 to 2022 to develop the School Education Sector plan (SESP), which covers 2021 to 2030. The SESP differs from previous school sector plans in that it is designed in line with the new federal structure of governance for the Education system in Nepal, which has devolved many responsibilities for school education to local governments. The SESP is funded jointly by the Government of Nepal and donors covering the whole school sector education in Nepal. It is a continuation to the previous education sector programs SSDP (2016-2021) and SSRP (2009-2016), both of which were supported by the EU.This 5 years measure support is part of the EU Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP) 2021-2027 and it is&nbsp;complementary with ¿Quality Education for All¿, the EU support to SESP implemented mainly by budget support. This measure supports the role of the CSOs in the implementation of the SESP. The action intends to ensure the participation of civil society in the implementation and monitoring in the policy, by focusing on SDG targets such as quality, gender equity and inclusive education. The overall objective of this action is to enhance civil society capacity to strengthen education goals by improving the participation of civil society, their efforts to enhance advocacy and to ensure transparency and increased effectiveness in national educational policy and implementation processes. The specific objectives are: 1) to strengthen national civil society engagement in education sector planning, policy dialogue and monitoring and 2) to strengthen civil society¿s role in promoting access to education for all girls and boys, transparency and accountability of national education sector policy and implementation.The main expected results will be: i) Improved participation of CSOs in the implementation of the SESP at federal, provincial, local and school level; ii) Improved CSO¿s capacities for advocacy and for designing initiatives to increase the access to education of socially and economically disadvantaged girls and boys, girls and boys from marginalised groups and girls and boys with disabilities; iii) Improved CSO¿s capacities for enhancing transparency and accountability in the implementation of the SESP.