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Belgium-Flemish-Community

4. Social Inclusion

4.2 Administration and governance

Last update: 31 March 2026
On this page
  1. Governance
  2. Cross-sectorial cooperation
On this page
  1. Governance
  2. Cross-sectorial cooperation

Governance

Social inclusion of vulnerable young people is not exclusive a youth policy theme (or any other policy area). To combat social exclusion, the Flemish government works via both horizontal and vertical consultation and planning.

Most relevant policy domains are:

At federal level:

At regional (Flemish) level:

  • Youth Policy and the wider policy domain of Culture, Youth, Sports and Media 
  • Equal opportunities policy
  • Educational policy
  • Welfare, public health & family policy 

In the following we focus on the regional level and describe the relevant actors (Minister, Departments and Agencies) and legislation for each of the domains 

Each policy domain consists of a department and one or more agencies.

  • Departments are responsible for policy preparation and policy support. They work under the direct authority and under the responsibility of the minister.
  • Agencies are primarily responsible for policy-implementing tasks and have a greater degree of autonomy. 

 

Top level authorities

Policy domain of Culture, Youth, Sports and Media

Equal opportunities policy

Education policy

Welfare, public health & family policy

 

Main non-public actors taking part in the regulation and implementation of social inclusion of young people

Actors in the domain of youth policy

The Flemish Office of the Children's Rights Commissioner detects (warning) signs from children, young people, their immediate environment and professionals. It mediates, investigates complaints and provides policy advice - always with a view to compliance with and the application of children’s rights in Flanders. The Children's Rights Commissioner is appointed by the Flemish Parliament. A consultative and advisory board provides support to the Office of the Children's Rights Commissioner in the performance of its duties. It is composed of representatives of the political groups in the Flemish Parliament and representatives of civil society and the scientific world. 

The Office of the Children's Rights Commissioner translates structural problems into dossiers, advice, opinions and reports on bottlenecks for the Flemish Parliament. It studies certain issues related to children’s rights and the underlying problems in depth in order to provide information and advice to the Flemish Parliament. It also indicates possible ways to translate these into Flemish regulations. It tests policy initiatives, such as draft of Decrees and proposals, against the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They for instance formulated advice and reports on:

STEKR is  formed from the merger of three organizations — Knowlegde Centre on Children’s Rights (Kenniscentrum Kinderrechten), the Children’s Right Coalistion (Kinderrechtencoalitie Vlaanderen), and tZitemzo. STEKR focuses on promoting and protecting the rights of children and young people. It acts as a central hub for knowledge, research, and practice on children’s rights and supports both youth and professionals with information, guidance, and policy advice. STEKR also encourages youth participation, amplifies young people’s voices, and contributes to inclusive and effective children’s rights policies. 

Uit De Marge is a Flemish Centre for youth work with disadvantaged children and young people. ‘Uit De Marge” actively contributes to the realization of the rights and equal opportunities for disadvantaged children and young people in Flanders. They focus on building a high-quality youth work with disadvantaged children and young people and guide and support local and regional youth initiatives that (among others) work with disadvantaged children and young people. Uit De Marge also supports youth work in general in his efforts towards socially vulnerable children and young people and other social sectors in their relation to socially vulnerable children and young people.

Other NGO’s (non-governmental organisations)

A brief selection of some of the most important NGO’s in Flanders working on social inclusion (including substantial focus and work with children, youth and young people):

The Flemish network of associations against poverty (Netwerk tegen Armoede)

In the Flemish Network against Poverty 61 associations work together with the ultimate aim of eradicating poverty and social exclusion. In the participating associations people living in poverty have a central role. For their functioning these associations can rely on the support of the Network team. The mutual exchange of experiences, visions, success stories and learning between the organizations is an important task for the Network. Based on the experiences and opinions of the people the associations and the Network construct dossiers on and communicate them to the government, the relevant departments, the broad society and public opinion. The Network Against Poverty is also working to improve the image of people in poverty and the elimination of prejudice.

Up until 2010, issues related to youth, such as youth care, family, youth unemployment, youth work, education ... were followed by the respective consultative groups within the Network Against Poverty. These consultative groups composed exclusively of adult people in poverty who participate in associations to the theme groups. The result was that the positions of the Anti-Poverty Network on youth-related themes were determined primarily by adults (parents) and not by young people themselves. Since 2011, a group of young people in poverty has been meeting on a regular basis. Within the 61 associations linked to the Flemish network against poverty, there are also associations with a specific youth working. 

De Link

De Link provides training to become an expert by experience in poverty and social exclusion, with the support of the Welfare and Society Division. 

LEVL

LEVL is a Flemish non-profit organisation that advocates for the rights and equal participation of people with a migration background in Flanders and Brussels. Recognised by the Flemish government as a participation organisation, LEVL brings together expertise, research, and lived experience to influence policy and promote inclusion.

Démos (part of publiq)

Démos is a non-partisan public research and advocacy organization. Démos' role has been embedded in the wider cultural field of Flanders by the Participation Decree. They focus on social and policy developments in culture, youth work and sports. Within this focus they:

  • publish books and a magazine, organise symposia, work shops, cafés and other gatherings. 
  • do research and advise organisations and governments
  • contribute to the development of policy and practices that focus mainly on groups and practices that are under-represented and underexposed in our society.

Consultation of young people 

The Flemish Youth Council (see chapter 5 for more information on the Flemish Youth Council)

The Flemish Youth Council which is the official advisory body of the Flemish Government on all matters concerning children and young people, has formulated advice on e.g.:

 

Next to the advises that the Youth Council formulates, the following initiatives within the Youth Council are also noteworthy with regard to the social inclusion of young people:  

  • They install different working groups each mandate. In 2018-2020 there were six working groups: diversity: representation in the media, feeling good: freedom-restricting measures, eduction: unpaid school bills, sustainable mobility, UN: sustainable living and circular economy, Europe: Future of Work & European Youth Goals.
  • The Youth Council sets up different projects in which young people are questioned on various topics, such as equal opportunities, poverty, consultation and participation, etc. (De Touristenbevraging, 2020).
 

Cross-sectorial cooperation

In Flanders, social inclusion is a joint responsibility of the Flemish Minister of Health, Public Health and Family, the Flemish Minister of Education and Training and the Flemish Minister of Youth and its administration and agencies.

As mentioned in 1.5 Cross-sectorial approach with other ministries, youth policy is a transversal policy. It is envisaged that each ministry takes its own responsibilities and defines tasks linked to the implementation of specific goals within the Youth Policy Plan, while the Minister for Youth is in charge of overseeing the process and reporting on the Plan’s implementation to the government.

Besides the Flemish Policy Plan, the Act on Flemish Youth and Children’s Rights Policy (Jeugd- en Kinderrechtenbeleidsplan) envisages three more instruments of youth policy:

[1] A commission is a group of Flemish representatives, who are specialized in a particular subject, such as education, welfare or economy. A commission has fifteen permanent members and fifteen alternates, divided according to the strength of the political groups. Commissions prepare the decrees, check the Flemish government policy (e.g. through questions or interpellations to the Minister).