Supported projects

ANTWERP - Thanks to more than 450 volunteers the cultural center called De Roma keeps going. Why do they put their heart and soul into this theater in Borgerhout near Antwerp? Television maker Lies Van der Auwera tried to find the answer. 

SEOUL - From 1932 through 1945, the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy exploited a system of forced prostitution in all occupied territories in China, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, enslaving women and girls of many ethnicities as so-called ‘comfort women'. These war crime victims represent 34 ...

KYIV - In the course of the moratorium on forest felling in Ukraine, bypassing not only national legislation but also EU regulations and certifications, Ukrainian timber is cut and harvested at such a rate that over four years its exports to the EU countries increased by 75%, exceeding the mark in a ...

LAGOS - Lured by the prospects of a better life, thousands of African youths are braving the risks of crossing the Sahara and the Mediterranean for a chance to live in Europe. Victor, a 28-year old Nigerian graduate is one of several thousands of young Nigerians who have made the dangerous journey ...

ANTANANARIVO - When the news from Beijing reached Madagascar on September 6th, 2018, that a deal of 2.7 billion USD was signed on the country’s “blue economy” with China, people in the second largest island country panicked. Rightfully so. Nobody, including the fishing ministry, had heard of such a ...

LESBOS - Dimitri Van Zeebroeck and Lize Van Dyck join forces for a special film documentary about the migration crisis, more specifically in Lesbos, Greece. In the meantime, they write blog posts and articles for MO*, a Belgian magazine.

DILOVASI - The Toxic Valley project looks into the environmental consequences of industrialisation in Turkey, and reveals a pattern of chemical dumping and polluting that has led to a widespread health crisis in the Kocaeli region, the most heavily industrialised area of the country.

KABUL - Now that the Taliban is constantly threatening with attacks on polling stations and other places, it is fearful to see what the Afghan presidential elections of September 28 will bring. But everyone is convinced that they must continue: “The Taliban cannot stop us anymore. It's too late for ...

ARBIL - In the summer of 2014, IS invaded the Sinjar region in northern Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of residents fled to Iraqi Kurdistan, or to Mount Sinjar, not knowing that help would come days later. Without food or water many died of exhaustion. But IS had come not only to expand the Caliphate ...

BUCHAREST - The need of Italian mafia networks to carry out vast money-laundering operations took them to Romania and Bulgaria. They set up companies that not only succeeded in flying under the radar but also won government contracts. 

PTOLEMAIDA - In Greece, coal is considered "national fuel" and policymakers have always treated it as such. The future of the coal industry, however, is not taken for granted. The price of coal has increased, the industry is operating against EU's environmental and economic policies and its ...

BERLIN - Are online dating applications designed to make us react in a certain way? Why do men do not attract enough attention and women increasingly receive insults and inappropriate messages? Our grantees, Judith Duportail and Nicolas Kayser-Bril, investigated how the architecture of a dating ...

CAPE TOWN - Although cyberspace is not the main platform for the illegal wildlife trade, it provides an anonymous and versatile marketplace in which to buy and sell. It is safe to say that the internet plays a role at some point in an increasing number of wildlife trafficking incidents.

BIHAC - Western Bosnia and Herzegovina is a bottleneck for migrants and refugees who are fleeing across the Balkans. Many of them are caught en route to Northern or Western Europe on Slovenian territory, from where they are being systematically handed over to Croatian authorities in the last year ...

GABORONE - In the series "The Flemish story behind heritage in southern Africa", Margot Cassiers investigates what was achieved with the Flemish Community's long-term investment in intangible cultural heritage in southern Africa. "Why should I learn about Aristotle, not about my grandfather?"

TEHERAN - It is now more than a year since the US unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement with Iran. Since then, the Iranian economy has suffered the stiff sanctions, while unemployment and poverty in the country are rising. Whatever the Americans want to achieve with this, their policy ...

ZAGREB - Although women have the legal right to abortion across the vast majority of countries in Europe, women in some east European countries are finding it tougher to terminate pregnancies. Our grantees looked into examples of Croatia, Romania, and Poland.

MOMBASA - Counterfeit and substandard drugs are believed to kill thousands of people annually. The trade of substandard or falsified medicines has grown to a $30 billion black market industry. Experts warn that the number of counterfeit or substandard goods entering Africa is on the rise.

BRUSSELS - The five Flemish universities have made considerable progress in the area of gender equality in recent years. Yet at this rate it would take until 2050 before there is gender balance among academic staff. Only slightly more than one in four professors in Flanders is female - while there ...

BRUSSELS - The 'Black Neighbourhoods' project is a result of the writing residence of the Flemish-Dutch organisation deBuren. While the authors were walking through Paris, they were both attracted to Château Rouge, an African neighbourhood immediately behind Montmartre. The positive sides but also ...