In 2008, the International Working group on Education (IWGE) returned to three significant technical and political challenges: financing for equity, capacity development, and data management. For the rights and opportunities to education for all to be realized, enhanced levels of funding and more equitable and sometimes targeted strategies for the use of scarce financial resources are required. As systems grow and increase in complexity, so the need for building and sustaining a range of capacities across the education sector – central and local – takes on greater urgency. But identifying priorities and sustaining professional development programmes over time still receive insufficient attention globally. And without effective communication and use of reliable data, defining well-conceived policies and effecting good practice have limited chances of success. These three pillars of making education work for all provided the substance for the 2008 IWGE dialogue.