This review was conducted in collaboration between the Directorate for Public Governance (GOV), the Economics Department (ECO), the Directorate for Education and Skills (EDU) and the Directorate for Labour, Employment and Social Affairs (ELS).
The review was managed by Claire Salama, monitoring and evaluation lead (GOV), and co-ordinated by François Villeneuve (GOV), policy analyst. It was written by a multidisciplinary team at the OECD. Claire Salama and François Villeneuve wrote Chapter 1 on how to evaluate Belgium’s response to COVID-19, with contributions from the entire team of authors. Nestor Alfonzo Santamaria (GOV) wrote Chapter 2 on emergency anticipation and preparedness policies, with inputs from Jack Radisch (GOV) and support from Letizia Andres Calvo and Fabiola Mendoza García (GOV). Chapter 3 on crisis management was written by Claire Salama and François Villeneuve. Elina Suzuki, Pauline Fron and Ricarda Milstein (ELS) wrote Chapter 4 on health system resilience in the face of the pandemic with contributions from Melanie Steentjes. Chapter 5 on education policy during the crisis was written by Diana Toledo Figueroa, Quentin Vidal, Jonathan James and Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin (EDU). Jakob Brunnengräber, Filippo Cavassini and Esther Raineau-Rispal (ECO) wrote Chapter 6 on economic and fiscal measures to mitigate the impacts of the crisis, with inputs from Fatima Talidi, Zeev Krill and Peter Gal (ECO). Chapter 6 also benefited from comments from and discussions with the delegates on the Economic and Development Review Committee (EDRC). Finally, Chapter 7 on labour market and social policies in the face of the crisis was written by Raphaela Hyee and Sebastian Königs with statistical support by Agnès Puymoyen (ELS). The report was prepared for publication by Meral Gedik.
Senior staff, including Elsa Pilichowski (Director of GOV), Jon Blondal (Head of the GOV Public Management and Budgeting Division), Gillian Dorner (Acting Deputy Director to GOV), Alvaro Pereira (Director of ECO), Isabell Koske (Deputy Director of ECO), Stefano Scarpetta (Director of ELS), Mark Pearson (Deputy Director of ELS), Francesca Colombo (Head of the ELS Health Division), Frederico Guanais (Deputy Head of the ELS Health Division), Stéphane Carcillo (Head of the ELS Jobs and Income Division), Andreas Schleicher (Director of EDU), Paulo Santiago (Head of the EDU Education Policy Advice and Implementation Division) and Tia Loukkola (Head of the EDU Innovation and Measuring Progress Division), provided feedback and comments on this review.
The OECD Secretariat would like to express its thanks the Concertation Committee, which made this review possible. The Secretariat is very grateful to Thomas Van Achter, Federal Public Service (FPS) Chancellery, Dirk Ramaekers and Lieven De Raedt, FPS Public Health, as well as Bart Raeymaekers and Leen Depuydt from the National Crisis Centre, for their ongoing support and commitment throughout this project.
The review would also not have been possible without the input and assistance of Jeroen Clicq and Patrick D'Hondt, Prime Minister’s Office; Ri De Ridder, cabinet of the Minister of Health; Evelien De Raeymaecker, cabinet of the Minister of Interior; Tillo Baert, cabinet of the Minister-President of Flanders; Mieke de Meester, Flemish Crisis Centre; Karine Moykens, Flanders Department of Care; Christopher Sortino, cabinet of the Minister-President of Wallonia; Brigitte Bouton (Wallonia Agency for Quality of Life); Sebastien Dewailly, Mathieu Panarotto, cabinet of the Minister-President of the French Community; Julian Poelman, cabinet of the Minister-President of Brussels-Capital; Jean Moulart, cabinet of the Minister of Health of Brussels-Capital; Olivier Delbauve and Stéphanie Sirjacobs, Joint Colleges Services of the Brussels-Capital Joint Community Commission; Daniel Hilligsmann, cabinet of the Minister-President of the German-speaking Community; Leila Belkhir (UCLouvain); Anne-Emmanuelle Bourgaux (UMONS/ ULB); Paul Gemmel (UGent); Marius Gilbert (ULB); Michel Moutschen (ULiège); Benoît Muylkens (UNamur); Erik Schokkaert (KU Leuven); Piet Stinissen (Hasselt University); Koen Verhoest (University of Antwerp); Tom Wenseleers (KU Leuven); Aube Wirtgen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel); and Vincent Yzerbyt (UCLouvain).
The Secretariat is also grateful to Ann Coenen and Tom Bevers, FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue; Adriaan Luyten, FPS Finance; Erik Meersseman, Olivier Goddeeris, Antonio Fiordaliso, Youri Baeyens, Statbel; Geert Langenus, Peter Reusens, Stefan Van Parys, National Bank of Belgium; Yves Schouwaerts, Flanders Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VLAIO); Cassandre Laurent, cabinet of the Minister of Economy of Wallonia; Thomas Quenon, Wallonia Public Service, Economy, Employment and Research; Odile De Brabanter, Brussels-Capital Public Service, Economy and Employment; Marcel van der Auwera (FPS Public Health – HTSC); Elizaveta Fomenko (UGent) for their valuable feedback on the thematic chapters of this review.