Supported projects

BELGIUM - It is likely that the Belgian government will give the green light for the final underground disposal of nuclear waste before the end of the year. Cost: several billion euros. The taxpayer pays almost half of that. It remains to be seen whether the largest waste producer Electrabel will pay the rest.

Peru is one of the economically fastest growing countries of Latin-America. Still, inequality stays high and social conflicts are raging throughout the country.

KINSHASA - Congolese-Australian journalist Eric Mwamba went on a search to find the secret behind the riches of the Congolese elite. Many of his witnesses prefered staying anonymous for fear of their lives – which looks like a kind of Congolese omerta. John Vandaele selected Mwamba’s strongest observations and added some personal touches.

Stringent European migration legislation has shifted traditional African migration circuits towards China. The process of obtaining a European visa is long and tiresome. It can take up to two years without any guarantee of actually acquiring the visa, a Chinese visa takes a day. This led to the formation of African communities in China, such as the Congolese community in the Xiaobei district in the city of Guangzhou.

MOSTAR - Sem Bucman (31) has been living in Belgium for 20 years. He was born in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The war in the early 90s tore the city apart. Also the famous bridge was destroyed, as was the house where Sem lived as a child.  All the photos, his memories of his childhood, disappeared.

RABAT - It used to be no more than the curse of acrimonious racists. Today, however, it is an optimistic dream. Increasingly more well-educated Moroccans born in Belgium, children or grandchildren from former migrant workers, decide to build a future in the country that their parents fled from so many years earlier.

From 2009 till 2011, Dutch war photographer Teun Voeten focused on the drug-related violence that is destabilizing Mexico. He visited the epicenter of the violence, Ciudad Juarez, as well as other hot spots such as Culiacan and Michoacan.

As American voters prepare for the Presidential ballot, the economic inequality is the largest since the Great Depression. While the financial crisis left many people without a job and a lot of debt, a small majority is doing better than ever.
The elections are therefore less about personal or ethical preferences, than they are about the future ecnomic model of the States.

BENIN - The social and ecological drama of Nigeria's oil industry is a well-known fact in the West. A story that is directly connected but largely unknown, however, is how neighbouring Benin has become dependent on illegal oil smuggle from Nigeria for its fuel supply. One of the most conspicuous things about the Benin oil smugglers are the disabled smugglers on their strange Vespa tricycles.

The Flemish public service broadcaster's America watcher, Björn Soenens, takes you on a fascinating journey through America - the country and its citizens. Read about that amazing country, full of dreamers and deceivers.