The Digital Belgium Skills Fund in its second project call yielded 37 laureates, who mold this target group into digital ‘kraks’. An initiative of Minister of Digital Agenda Alexander De Croo in collaboration with the King Baudouin Foundation, invests in projects that strengthen the digital skills of socially vulnerable young people and adults.
The 162 organizations submitted a candidate file for the second project call from the Digital Belgium Skills Fund. That is 50 more than with the first call. Thirty-seven projects (16 French and 21 Dutch) were selected by an independent jury. They each receive a maximum of € 500,000 for a total of € 5,626,378.90. Sixteen projects already received a first time support in 2017 and were now re-selected by the independent jury.
According to the Minister of Digital Agenda, Alexander De Croo, “The digital revolution is an opportunity revolution. Anyone can make it into the digital world, if you have the right skills. That is why it is so important that we invest in socially vulnerable children and young people with the Digital Belgium Skills Fund. This way they are stronger in shoes. Those who have digital skills speak the language of the future. ”
Most projects focus on training and education . They intend to use the support of the Fund to purchase material, and to pay for trainers and coordinators. The Digital Belgium Skills Fund was established in 2017. It provides financial support to projects that teach socially vulnerable young people and (young) adults digital skills through short or medium-term training initiatives. This way they increase their chances of social inclusion and economic independence.
At the request of the FPS Policy and Support, the King Baudouin Foundation organizes the selection of the projects. An independent jury, composed by the Foundation, selected for the second time the initiatives that best meet the selection criteria of the call.
