The government can only fulfil its digital ambitions if it has sufficient digitalisation expertise. This means having the right specialist staff in the right place, now and in the future. The Digital Proficiency priority focuses on enabling civil servants, including specialists, to continuously develop their digitalisation knowledge and skills. The government must also provide civil servants with optimal digital support to work more productively. This, in turn, leads to better public services.Â
The competencies of civil servants and the learning offerings from government academies must align if the government is to transform into a more data-driven organisation. Various government organisations are working on the same ICT issues with their own staff. They organise their own digital working environment. By sharing knowledge and expertise and working more as 1 government, they create economies of scale that benefit the government as a whole.
The objectives
The Digital Proficiency priority has 3 objectives. First, a digitalisation staffing strategy to determine which knowledge the government needs in-house and which it sources from the market. This enables the government to recruit, reskill and develop education more effectively based on technological innovations. Second, greater control over the development of digitalisation knowledge among civil servants and senior officials. Finally, a modern digital working environment with the right tools so that civil servants can carry out their work effectively.
The accelerators
The Digital Proficiency priority has identified 6 accelerators:
Vision on the impact of digitalisation on the digital transformation task
Building a shared vision of how digitalisation is changing civil servants’ work, and of the competencies, behaviours and mindsets they will need as a result. The aim is to organise work more intelligently and in new ways, share knowledge and expertise, and lay the foundations for a clear digitalisation workforce strategy.
Implementing and embedding the use of the KWIV framework
Implement the Information Provision Quality Framework (KWIV) across government to understand capacity and staffing levels for digitalisation professionals.
Frameworks, agreements and interventions for sustainable digitalisation workforce development
Establishing frameworks and interventions to support the sustainable development of the digitalisation workforce, aligned with a shared vision for a digitalisation workforce strategy. The aim is to provide direction, structure and support for building a sustainable digital workforce, including in the context of skills shortages and workforce planning.
Promoting the efficient use of pools of digitalisation professionals
Opening up pools of digitalisation professionals across government helps create an agile government that deploys scarce talent where it is most needed through smart collaboration. By fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing across these pools, government organisations at national, regional and local levels can work together to build the digital government.
Coordinating learning and development to support digital proficiency in the civil service
Lead the coordination of learning and development to strengthen digital proficiency in the civil service. This will enable the development of a proposal defining the knowledge levels required for future digital professionals and the corresponding professional profiles, as well as how government organisations can attain and maintain the required level of expertise.
Establishing a vision and proposition for the digital workplace
Developing a vision, in collaboration with other levels of government, to guide the government-wide development of the digital workplace for civil servants. This will ensure that every employee can configure a suitable working environment with tools that can be used securely and responsibly across all locations.
