Supported projects

EDMONTON / OTTAWA – Separatism, long a marginal phenomenon, has grown into a broad movement that has gained influence within the ruling UCP in Alberta. Alberta has one of the largest oil reserves in the world and, according to the separatists, too much of the revenue flows to Ottawa. Albertans feel that the West is not being heard sufficiently in federal politics and that environmental legislation, in particular, is hampering the oil industry.

BRUSSELS / LILONGWE – In September 2025, the Flemish Government abruptly pulled the plug on its bilateral development cooperation with Malawi. For twenty years, Flanders had been investing in agriculture and food security there, but the cooperation fell victim to a round of budget cuts.

SARAJEVO – In late 1995, the Dayton Accords brought an end to more than four years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The violence ceased and people celebrated. But this peace treaty also laid the foundations for an ethnically and politically divided country.

BRUSSELS – This investigation shows that local opposition to new reception centres for asylum seekers is often not a spontaneous neighbourhood protest. In 23 of the 26 Flemish municipalities where a new reception centre has opened since 2016, Vlaams Belang actively organised or supported the protest.

KINSHASA – Échos du Silence explores the history surrounding human remains from the Congo that have been held in Belgium since the colonial period, and addresses issues relating to provenance, restitution, the transfer of knowledge and the dignity of the dead.

BRUSSELS - Around 50,000 people are currently homeless in our country. We know they are there, and we seem to have come to terms with their situation. But why, exactly? Why is homelessness so low on the political agenda? Why are we failing to get these people off the streets? Are homeless people no longer human beings? 

SYRACUSE – The strictest European migration policy ever came into force in June. Through the Return Regulation, the EU is expanding its cooperation with third countries even further. NGOs have long been witnessing the human impact of externalisation policies, whereby border controls are outsourced and human rights are put under pressure.

BRUSSELS / SAMOS – How has violence at Europe’s external borders become normalised, and what institutional, political and psychological mechanisms perpetuate it?

TASHKENT / TERMZ / KABUL – The Taliban’s Qosh Tepa Canal is without a doubt a mega-project. It is being built in Afghanistan but will be fed by water from the Amu Darya – the region’s largest river, which lies on the border with Uzbekistan. For Uzbek farmers, this threatens to be a disaster. Europe, too, is keeping a close eye on developments, as a conflict in Central Asia would be most unwelcome.

KORTRIJK / WEVELGEM - The airport of Kortrijk-Wevelgem is the least well-known of the three regional airports in Flanders. It is considerably smaller than the airports in Antwerp and Ostend, particularly in terms of passenger numbers. Yet Kortrijk-Wevelgem is not spared from criticism either.

LEUVEN / LOOSDRECHT - Hooligans, online hate-mongers and orthodox Christians are rallying behind the call for ‘remigration’. For some figures and groups within the far right, the use of violence appears to be no obstacle.

POLINKHOVE / ANTWERP – Every Flemish citizen has the right to add a question or a proposal to the municipal council’s agenda. Research by Apache shows that around a quarter of Flemish towns and municipalities do not have regulations setting out the conditions for doing so.

ZUGDIDI - The 250-kilometre border between Abkhazia and Georgia has been dividing the two countries for decades, making life increasingly difficult for the communities living along it. Caught between Russian pressure and the manoeuvrings of the ruling Georgian Dream party, those living near the border find themselves increasingly at the mercy of forces beyond their control.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

AUSTIN - Living Under Ice tells the story of several ordinary Texans who are targeted by Trump's stricter immigration policy. Belgian filmmaker Louise Van Assche, who lives and works in Texas, teams up with co-director Kwinten Gernay to follow a number of families living on the border with Mexico. These often invisible but direct witnesses show how the Trump administration's measures are affecting the local community.

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.

OUDSBERGEN / YELLOWSTONE - After a century of absence, the wolf is once again prowling our landscapes. Its return is welcomed in forests and meadows, but resistance is growing on farms and in parliaments.

CHELEM - Chelem, a small coastal town on the Gulf of Mexico, recently rebranded by Trump as the “Gulf of America”, is the stage for an unexpected reversal. Where once Mexicans journeyed north in search of a better life, today Americans are heading south, drawn by affordable healthcare, lower living costs, and the promise of a paradise filled with margaritas by the pool.

BUENOS AIRES - For decades, Argentinians have been plagued by monstrous price increases. With a solemn promise to put an end to hyperinflation, Javier Milei came to power at the end of 2023. Since then, Milei has been dismantling the state step by step, part of his libertarian agenda that is increasingly dividing the nation.

JERUSALEM / BEIRUT / DAMASCUS – The geopolitical and humanitarian situation in the Middle East has worsened since the terror attacks of 7 October 2023. International organisations have documented large-scale war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Palestine. Meanwhile, Israel has invaded Lebanon and Syria. This advanced geopolitical strategy too often loses sight of the fate of ordinary civilians.