When people ask me where we are in achieving Education for All (EFA), I say that although many countries still have a long way to go, the campaign organization is in good shape. There is now excellent international teamwork between the four main stakeholder groups: developing country governments, civil society organizations, bilateral donors and intergovernmental agencies. Coordination at country level has also improved and actors are increasingly working within a common framework, led by the country itself, rather than each doing its own thing. The various agencies are now dividing up the work; each focusing on a part of the EFA program that exploits its strengths. The World Bank runs the Fast-Track Initiative (FTI) to promote universal primary education completion. After initial hesitation, the FTI emerged as a key response to the EFA challenge. UNICEF is coordinating efforts for gender parity in schools and universal education for girls. Achieving EFA means going where the greatest number of unschooled and uneducated people are. This takes us to South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa and, in particular, to the rural areas of these vast regions. Education today, in this issue, addresses the challenge of bringing education to rural populations in the face of widespread discrimination, knowingly or unknowingly, against those living outside cities. As I travel the world, I see many encouraging developments. Most of them, unsurprisingly, are the result of empowering rural people. Some states in India, such as Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, are making rapid progress towards EFA because local councils, or Panchayats, have been put in charge. National political will is another key ingredient. China, for example, has placed education and communication at the center of its development policy for the western part of the country. During my visit to Oman, I saw the government's determination to ensure that schools were built and staffed to the same specifications across the country. UNESCO encourages all countries to combine national will and local power in the service of rural populations. In the coming decades, 60% of the world's population will live in rural areas. Humanity depends on them and they depend on education