Kivu provided expert, tailored and politically informed technical assistance to Egypt’s Minister of Education, supporting the development and implementation of large-scale education system reform. The Kivu team drew on their own first-hand experience of managing politically contentious public service reform, to build effective, trust-based relationships. Specific areas of support included: strategic policy development and delivery; policy costings and financial management; and overall management of large-scale system-wide reforms. The work covered most major aspects of education system reform including workforce, early child development (ECD), accountability and assessment, curriculum, and technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Critical to the success was the combination of both Kivu’s policy expertise and our politically informed approach to working in a highly challenging environment.