Working together to ensure good Flemish administration Province of Vlaams-Brabant: the ‘Flemishness’ policy

Province of Vlaams-Brabant: the ‘Flemishness’ policy

One of the main actors in the Vlaamse Rand is the Province of Vlaams-Brabant. In the Vlaamse Rand it pursues a specific ‘Flemishness’ policy. The leading elements of this policy include:

• Flemishness projects: every year, the Province of Vlaams-Brabant subsidises projects that emphasise its Flemish character.
  
  
• Promotion of Dutch lessons, with an annual awareness campaign carried on mainly in the non-Dutch media. In the course of the campaign, anyone interested can call a freephone number for information on Dutch lessons.
  
  
• Awareness campaigns for the use of the regional language. The promotional campaign for Dutch is based on non-Dutch speakers’ readiness to learn Dutch. In fact the Flemish rarely give them the chance to practise it. So retailers in the Vlaamse Rand are encouraged not to switch immediately to another language when the non-Dutch speaker makes an effort to speak Dutch.
  
  
• Support for Dutch-language education: in association with Leuven University’s NT2 centre, the provincial authorities give educational and teaching back-up to primary schools with lots of non-Dutch-speaking pupils. The project focuses on Dutch language skills.
  
  
• Support for vzw ‘de Rand’: the Province of Vlaams-Brabant subsidises vzw ‘de Rand’, which was set up by act of parliament to underpin the Dutch-speaking aspect of the Vlaamse Rand.