Supported projects

HAVANA - The US is imposing an oil embargo on Cuba with the aim of bringing about regime change. Professor Domínguez López of the University of Havana stresses that the current problems cannot be viewed in isolation from more than sixty years of US sanctions. Those sanctions have never given Cuba the chance to fully develop its social model.

MADRID - When a military coup took place in Spain in 1936, followed by a civil war, as many as 2,400 volunteers left our country to fight on the side of the democratically elected Second Republic (1931–1939), first with the militias in the Basque Country and Catalonia, and later with the International Brigades.

NEW YORK / BRUSSEL - A study of bias in Western media reporting. Using a case study on the war in Afghanistan, we examine how journalists reported on the fight against ‘terrorism’ during America’s longest war and investigate the structural patterns that have shaped the narrative surrounding this conflict.

LIERNEUX - Europe wants to reduce its dependence on foreign supplies of key raw materials. That is why Member States are looking into what can be mined within their borders. Senne Starckx investigated the possibilities in Belgium.

KINSHASA - Marlies Geyskens travels to Kinshasa, a city of millions that has been struggling with a growing mountain of rubbish in recent years. There, she follows two local artists who make costumes from recycled materials.

SANTIAGO DE CHILE - On the American continent, the large northward migration flow is gradually drying up, due to Trump’s tough anti-immigration measures. But what about other migration flows in the region, between Latin American countries themselves?

ACCRA - In Destination Ghana, we follow four people from the African diaspora. Each has a different life story, but there is also something that connects them: none of them has ever set foot on the African continent

BOGOTA - Just as in the rest of Latin America, Pentecostal churches are on the rise in Colombia. They promote a personal relationship with God, place great emphasis on the emotional aspect, and promote prophecies and miracles. However, many of these churches also have clear political objectives.

KAMPALA - Uganda has for years hosted the largest refugee population in Africa, long celebrated as a regional success story thanks to its progressive open-door policy. But sweeping global cuts to development aid, most dramatically the dismantling of USAID under Trump, have plunged that system of refuge into a deep humanitarian crisis.

BRUSSELS - Humiliating language, a common mobile phone number, an age that does not match the photo shown: one in three Brussels sex profiles on Quartier Rouge and Redlights show signs that something is not right.

MECHELEN - The monk vulture is threatened with extinction. A breeding program at Planckendael Zoo wants to do something about this. But it is a process of trial and error.

DUFFEL - When therapy and medication offer no relief for severe depression, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) — better known as electroshock therapy — can provide hope. Mie and Tine have been struggling with depression for years. Now, they are placing their hopes on ECT. How do they experience the treatment? Do they gradually regain their former selves? And how do they cope with the lingering haze that remains after an ECT session?

TERVUREN / LUBUMBASHI - The increasing pressure on the Africa Museum to return artefacts has taken a new turn. The US, Congo and the EU are keen to digitise the museum's geological archives from the colonial era and gain access to information about the subsoil of Central Africa and its potential untapped mineral resources.

TEHRAN / BRUSSELS / MWANZA / TOKYO – Whether by lorry, bicycle, plane, boat, rickshaw or motorbike, they flout prejudices, rigid traditions and absurd laws. All over the world, courageous women are setting out on their journeys. They challenge gender roles, transform their surroundings and gain independence.

ANTWERP - It is well known that plastic and microplastics are everywhere. But the fact that they also leak harmful substances is much less well known. In this book, journalist Isabelle Vanhoutte sounds the alarm about this issue.

KHARTOUM - Almost a year after the recapture of Khartoum by Sudanese government forces from the RSF (Rapid Support Forces), the capital lies largely in ruins — a ghost town scarred by conflict. Arnaud De Decker found widespread devastation and spoke to residents who endured the occupation and to those who have since returned to reclaim what remains.

KABUL - In the remote mountains of central Afghanistan, a Hazara family embarks on a quest for truth and justice after their daughter Zahra mysteriously dies at Kabul University.

ANTWERP - Flemish industry urgently needs to become greener in order to meet climate targets, but the transition is proving difficult. Although the government is making more and more resources available, it remains unclear whether these investments will actually lead to greening.

PORTO-NOVO - Can the close partnership between Belgium and Benin serve as a model for sustainable European-African cooperation? The failure of European states in Sahel countries such as Mali and Niger has shown that military cooperation alone does not work. In Benin, Belgium offers not only military but also economic support.

ANTWERP - The Organisation Todt (OT) was a German paramilitary government organisation named after its founder, Fritz Todt. The group was involved in major construction projects (such as the Atlantic Wall), security assignments (such as guarding prisoner-of-war and concentration camps) and military operations and genocides (including those in Eastern Europe).

HADIBU - Travel influencers have discovered the island of Socotra. Although leisure travel to Yemen is strongly discouraged amid ongoing conflict, Socotra is portrayed online as a carefree destination — raising serious questions about the consequences for one of the world's most fragile ecosystems.

ANTWERP/BRUSSELS - How is it that we know so little about Africa yet still have such strong opinions about it? This ABC book takes a close look at the existing clichés.

BRUSSELS / BIAŁOWIEŻA / LESBOS - Security agents abandoning people in the desert. Coast guards destroying boats and leaving those on board stranded on the open sea. Slave markets with refugees. Since the start of the “European refugee crisis”, violence at our external borders, and in distant countries that do the dirty work for us, has exploded.

QAMISHLO - March 2014. During a report in Rojava, the Kurdish region of Syria, things go wrong. IS militants storm the town hall and blow themselves up. Ten years later, we return to Qamishlo to see how the events of that day have changed the lives of those involved, and what remains of the revolutionary enthusiasm of a decade ago.

BRUSSELS – Across Europe, the wolf population is growing, but so is resistance. Between the numbers, the political and public debate threatens to impact science. Accurate monitoring of the animals is crucial, not only for counting them, but also for understanding how conservation works.

BENZDORP/PARAMARIBO - Deep in the Amazon rainforest, on the banks of the Lawa River between Suriname and French Guiana, live the Wayana. The peaceful existence of this indigenous population came to an abrupt end in 1885, when gold was discovered in the region. Since then, the presence of outsiders has left deep scars on their society.

BRUSSELS - In 2021, the European Union decided that it wants to end homelessness by 2030. Belgium also signed up to this goal. During the Belgian Presidency of the European Council at the beginning of last year, our country organised a conference in Brussels entitled “Towards zero homelessness, only six years left to succeed”.

ANTWERP - Hugo Schiltz is the most important Flemish nationalist of the 20th century. He grew up in a strict Catholic and radical Flemish nationalist environment and joined the collaboration at the age of fourteen. He quickly overcame the trauma of that collaboration and his imprisonment, after which he became the architect of federal Belgium.

LONGYEARBYEN - Svalbard, once an isolated destination for researchers and miners, is increasingly visited by tourists. Climate change, easier accessibility, and ‘last chance’ tourism have driven rapid growth in visitor numbers. This puts pressure on the fragile ecosystem and raises questions about the balance between economic development and nature conservation.

POPPEL - Dutch tractors cross the border day and night via small sandy roads to refuel more cheaply in Belgium. Since the Netherlands abolished the tax benefit for red diesel in 2013, cross-border trade has flourished with hardly any controls.