Addressing the equity and learning crisis in education requires resolute efforts to strengthen national systems. This includes efforts by development partners to improve development cooperation practices with more alignment of aid for education with national systems. Alignment provides unique opportunities to strengthen national systems for the education sector, leverage improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of public expenditure and support better education funding at scale. This brief presents Global Partnership for Education's (GPE's) conceptual approach to the use of country systems through the experience of five partner countries (Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger and Senegal). Each partner country has developed unique financing mechanisms to support education, adapted to their different contexts but characterized by their alignment with national public financial management systems. The adaptations include measures to manage both opportunities for system transformation and capacity support for sound fiduciary management.