Critical Champions: Civil Society and Commonwealth Education

Abstract The Commonwealth is rooted in past movement of peoples and in present-day links between individuals and institutions. The health of the ‘Commonwealth of states’ depends on the concurrent existence of a vibrant ‘Commonwealth of peoples’; but human development is accorded low priority in Commonwealth agendas and the official Commonwealth, while publicly acknowledging civil society's importance, has largely neglected the challenge of raising awareness of and interest in the Commonwealth among ordinary people. Commonwealth associations are potential allies in tackling this task. They are particularly numerous in the education sector, which has more extensive Commonwealth co-operative networks than any other, even though some organisations have faded away. The record of the Council for Education in the Commonwealth, now in its 50th year, demonstrates the value to the Commonwealth of having among its collaborators critical champions of its work.