Supported projects

THE NETHERLANDS - More than 60,000 people in the Netherlands are infected with salmonella every year. The resistant ESBL bacterium has been found on three-quarters of the chicken meat there. Is our food as safe as manufacturers and ministers claim?

DR CONGO - This special documentary tells the story of exceptionally strong women in eastern Congo. The region has been the scene of a bloody conflict for over 15 years. Positive resistance is growing in the city of Butembo. The population is trying to regain control over its fate and life. When the violence in and around Butembo increases, the inhabitants are not watching from the sidelines. Sometimes they literally run into danger.

One of the biggest threats to the environment in the Philippines is the excavation of sand by big dredging companies. Belgian journalist Peter Dupont wrote about the global war for sand in EOS Science Magazine. "Sand is the new gold. The worldwide excavation of sand on beaches and in rivers and oceans is signalling an ecological and human catastrophe." The article is part of Dupont's bigger project 'Philippine Forests: Tombs for Biocultural Diversity', for which he received a Pascal Decroos Fund working grant.

In Egypt the aftermath of a bloody summer is still palpable. In the southern city of Minya, the blackened church spires contrast a group of demonstrators holding yellow balloons: Morsi supporters are demanding that their president rule once again.

The Cape Flats near Cape Town in South Africa are renowned for their large-scale violence. It is very difficult for young people to escape the violence, drugs and criminality.

SWITZERLAND - What makes Switzerland surprisingly different, that organic, regional products, fair trade and eco-labels score the highest here? Who really knows how to put the Swiss on the track of a sustainable economy?

BELGIUM/ROMANIA - When Romania became a member of the European Union in 2007, a transitional measure was voted in Belgium whereby Romanians needed a work permit in order to be able to work. A direct consequence of this was that many Romanians ended up in the informal circuit or were employed under the wrong statute.

Despite the efforts and the enormous amounts of money invested in the management of the conflict and the post-conflict situation in Eastern Congo, the different peace agreements failed to create the conditions for sustainable conflict resolution. Conflict in Eastern Congo; a tale of war and dreadful peace agreements.

BELGIUM/SENEGAL - In 2012, 19-year-old Mamadou was one of the 5742 men, women and children expelled from Belgium. They ended up in the oblivion of public opinion. No news, good news. And if we may believe the responsible Secretary of State for migration Maggie De Block, the Belgian return policy is a huge success.

BELGIUM - In 2014 it will be exactly fifty years ago that the first Turkish labour migrants arrived in Ghent to work in the defunct textile factories. Today, more than 20,000 inhabitants of Ghent (about one in twelve) have their roots in Turkey. How Ghent became a small 'Turkey on the Leie' in half a century is the central question in this book about the people behind those numbers.