The Flemish Reform Programme (FRP 2020) was officially adopted by the Government of Flanders on 3 April 2020.

Amongst the key focuses of the Programme are digital skills, lifelong learning, and supporting businesses and citizens in managing the impact of the digital transition and transformation. Another focus is basing upskilling actions and digital skills initiatives on the European Pillar of Social Rights. 

The Strategy offers country-specific recommendations and takes stock of the state-of-play of macro-economic developments in the Flemish region in Belgium. It also provides relevant statistics and offers a response to economic challenges. As stated in the Flemish Coalition Agreement 2019-2024, the Government of Flanders is committed to ensuring excellence in education and promoting innovation in the economy and labour market. It also aims to ensure a soundly constructed budget and coordinated approach on key societal challenges, such as ones in the area of environment, climate, energy or mobility.

Within the action plan €20 million is invested in a project to bring personalised digital learning to the entire education system in Flanders (I-Learn). The investment programme 'Flanders Radical Digital' (Vlaanderen Radicaal Digitaal) focuses on the digitalisation of society with a broader scope. 

The new Government of Flanders (2019-2024) has set itself the objective of getting an another 120,000 people into work by the end of its term of office.

'Strategy 120,000' establishes the following priorities:

  • Keeping employed people in work. 
  • Strengthening the role of VDAB, the ‎Flemish Employment and Vocational Training Service‎. 
  • Attracting people who are currently not participating in the labour market, especially young people not in training or employment, people on social assistance, people with health problems and people who have temporarily exited the labour market due to emerging caring responsibilities. 

The FRP 2020 is appended to the National Reform Programme 2020 of Belgium and is also delivered to the Presidents of the European Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee

Strategy Details

Budget

The action plan initiatives are financed from Flemish government budget and EU funds: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), European Social Fund (ESF) and others. Over the period 2020-2024, funding amounts to a total of €1.4 billion. 

Digital skill level
Basic
Intermediate
Advanced
Digital expert
Digital technology / specialisation
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Web Development
Digital skills
Geographic scope
Belgium
Organization
Strategy state-of-play

The action plan was accepted in 2020 and currently a lot of initiatives and projects are ongoing as part of its implementation. 

Target audience
Digital skills for the labour force.
Digital skills in education.
Digital skills for all
Target language
Dutch
English
Timeline/roadmap
Adoption - April 3, 2020. Actions for period 2020-2024
Stakeholders

The Flemish reform program is led by Flemish government with active involvement of public and social partners and stakeholders, including  the Flemish Parliament and the Flemish social partners (via the Flemish Economic and Social Consultative Committee - Vlaams Economisch Sociaal Overlegcomité/VESOC).

Type of initiative
National initiative