Supported projects

CHORQISLOQ - A village in a remote region in Tajikistan, is under strict observation of local police, security services and other agencies. 69 inhabitants have left for Syria in the past three years. Fear seems to reign among village residents and relatives of IS fighters are closely monitored by the security services. ''Nobody knows how they left, not even their own family members'' whispers a primary school teacher. Her colleague adds: "We can not talk about them".

Sex before marriage is punishable by lashes and incarceration. Adultery even with the death penalty. And that is why promiscuous sexual behavior in Iran is the norm. Two journalists, with the support of the Pascal Decroos Fund, made a captivating undercover report from the underbelly of Tehran.

BUDAPEST - "We lost our media”, stated Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán in a rare interview in early 2015. He was referring to the media empire of a longtime ally-turned-enemy.

In Mali, the expression “aller en aventure” (setting off on an adventure) is widely known: young men are encouraged to spread their wings and leave the country to become a "real" man. Belgian actress Aminata Demba travels to Mali in the footsteps of her deceased father, to discover what drove him to undertake his journeys, before arriving in the Antwerp diamond district in the early 1970s. She discovers Mali, its culture of nomads and the importance of hospitality.

Since the late 1990s, the European Union has worked to encourage a European security market, where major defence and technology companies develop products and services that better protect us from crime and terrorism. This industry should also create jobs and be globally competitive. Over the past year, more than twenty journalists in eleven European countries investigated this burgeoning sector. And they discovered there’s a lot wrong with the European security market.

BOGOTA - Raf Custers went to the North of Colombia where he visited El Cerrejon, the site of the largest coal mine in Latin America.

BRUSSELS - Since its establishment in 1850, the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) has been seen as one of the most reliable, but also most mysterious, institutions in the country. After the introduction of the euro, our Belgian notes and coins disappeared, and the NBB seemed like a relic from the past. What is its reason of existence today?

OUAGADOUGOU - Early 2016 Burkina Faso announced its withdrawal from the genetically modified cotton introduced by multinational Monsanto eight years before. The Cotton Connection investigation shows that the American company made huge mistakes, but is not the only actor to be criticised.

BENI - Since October 2014 more than 1000 citizens have been killed in and around Beni, a town in North Kivu in DR Congo. The web documentary Beni Files shows what is happening right under the nose of the world's most expensive UN peace mission.

ABUJA - Thousands of tonnes of used electronics and illegal e-waste are imported into Nigeria every year. High demand for used European electronics, ineffective regulation and a lack of local recycling facilities pose a growing threat.