Supported projects

LUSAKA - Zambia is blessed with abundant natural resources, coupled with its strategic geographical location as a landlocked nation in the southern part of Africa. Since its inception, Zambia has been largely dependent on copper and other minerals. Copper production has been a major contributor to ...

HSINCHU - Microchips are at the heart of our digital world. Without them, our smartphones and laptops do not work, our cars fall silent and the internet crashes. So it comes as no surprise that car factories are halting production due to a global chip shortage, China and the US are fighting a trade ...

GOMA - Through the beautiful green hills of North Kivu, a 150-kilometre road winds from the capital Goma to the coltan and cassiterite mining area, road 529. Since 2002, efforts have been made to rehabilitate the road, which runs through one of the most dangerous areas in the world.

MAPUTO - The promise of transformative wealth from natural gas has seduced Mozambicans for more than a decade. But as the projects led by TotalEnergies and Eni have started construction, revenues to the country look likely to fall significantly short of expectations.

THE HAGUE- Argos investigated the investments of 1100 Dutch companies through subsidiaries or joint ventures in China. Together they are investing a total of 16 billion euros in China, which would make the Netherlands the second largest investor in China in Europe. 

TRIPOLI - Before his death, Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi moved a giant fortune out of the country. It is gold, diamonds and cash worth billions of dollars – financed with revenues from the sale of oil. Although the international community has committed to returning assets stolen from autocrats ...

LONDON - After the 2008 crash, a few Wall Street investors cracked the code for how to turn cut-price homes into a tradeable asset class worth billions. By 2021, the template they created is being adapted by diverse financial actors, ranging from private equity giants to PropTech apps.

CAIRO - After Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was elected president in May 2014, several amendments were made to the public procurement law that allowed the Egyptian military to further tighten its grip on the economy. The amendments helped army-affiliated companies reap the lion's share of major public ...

BRUSSELS - For the first time in history, the world is consuming more bottled water than soft drinks. Although access to safe water is both a fundamental human need and a basic human right recognised by the United Nations, the continuous growth in bottled water consumption is not just a response to ...

MATADI - Since colonial times, much and yet little has changed in the Congolese province of Kongo Central. Belgian companies in the Congolese agro-industry no longer play the role they did when they started operating in the then colony more than a century ago. The way in which these companies ...

LEUVEN - One consequence of Leuven being an expensive city to live in is that many people are forced to move elsewhere. The City Monitor showed in 2017 that 15 percent of residents had plans to do so. No less than 56 percent cited financial reasons for this.

PARIS / DAKAR - Over the last decade, the Chinese appetite for peanuts has turned them into the new 'gold' of Senegal. The two countries signed an agreement in 2014, after which China became the leading importer of Senegalese peanuts.

SOFIA - Excessive water cuts for its consumers, questionable management of tendering procedures, constant increases in water prices in the face of significant leaks in its outdated infrastructure. These features of a global water giant, repeatedly highlighted by the press, are no longer a secret in ...

AMSTERDAM - While the Covid recovery is increasing pressure on public finances and raising the prospect of tax increases, this new research from The Investigative Desk with support from the University of Bath shows, for the first time on this scale, which tax avoidance methods the world’s four ...

BUSIA, UGANDA - This story shows how the lapse in the law coupled by porous border points and tax difference is fuelling cross-border beer smuggling between Uganda and Kenya.

It depicts the colossal sums of revenues lost due to the illicit alcohol trade that is thriving between Busia, and Malaba ...

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 ...

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 European Social Fund (ESF) “is Europe’s main instrument for supporting jobs, helping people get better jobs and ensuring fairer job opportunities for all EU citizens”, according to the ESF website.

MAPUTO - “Land of plenty, land of but a few” is a web documentary and a data journalism investigation that tells the story of how the peasants who live in the Nacala Corridor, one of the most fertile and populated areas of Mozambique, have been heavily affected by the arrival of large agricultural ...

BUDAPEST - In our project, we’ve discovered how businessmen related to the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán were buying up media outlets in Slovenia.

ABUJA - The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) has been praised as a deal that will eventually liberalise trade between the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States.

NEW YORK -  Banks and vulture funds make money from ordinary people’s distress. The only way to fight back is to outsmart them. Wall Street giants—the so-called ‘vulture funds’—have been on a house-buying spree across Europe and the United States since the 2008 financial crash.

SKOPJE - The Western Balkan countries, home to some of Europe's most pristine nature, are facing a rush to build new hydroelectric power stations.

LONDON - Innocent people around the world have been added to a watch list of terrorists and criminals, an investigation reveals today. Research by an international consortium of media organisations exposes the secret World Check database, which lists over 2 million people.

LUXEMBURG - European Investment Bank (EIB) is the largest multilateral borrower and lender in the world. It finances mainly large infrastructure projects, but also provides loans to small and medium enterprises. The EIB is an EU bank, but its ambitions reach far beyond its borders.

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.

LILONGWE - Development aid is not as straightforward a way to bring about change as it seems. The countries that need it most, are often suffering from corruption and a lack of good infrastructure. Malawi is a case in point. 40% of its economy depends on development aid.

RUBAVU / GOMA - Every day over 25,000 Rwandese cross the border to Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the majority looking to sell Rwandese milk. The trip is not without danger, but for many the juice is worth the squeeze.