Supported projects

BELGIUM - The mythical wolf is back in Belgium. So are the eagle owl and the raven. The seal and the beaver. The tropical tree frog. Even the mysterious lynx. And who knows, soon the iconic brown bear? The list is impressive.

ACCRA - This investigation puts the spotlight on the use of banned pesticides from Europe in rubber farms in Ghana and other regions across the world, while European development banks, the main funder of such projects turn a blind eye to the environmental, health and safety concerns.

ERBIL/ISTANBUL/ATHENS - The complexity and dangers along migration routes to Europe —including the risk of being swindled by traffickers or robbed by security forces—, have increased the role of an informal banking system that works through “hawala”, a traditional money transfer system based on ...

PRAGUE - Waste is illegally imported to the Czech Republic. Both the competent state authorities and representatives of NGOs agree that this is a serious and not well studied problem.

BASRA - In Iraq, one of the world’s driest and poorest countries, Western oil companies are exacerbating water shortages as they make record profits exporting alternatives to Russian oil in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

TUZLA - According to studies, the 18 coal power plants in the Western Balkans (WB) are responsible for more pollution than the 221 coal power plants still active in the European Union.

SARAJEVO - Around half of Bosnia-Herzegovina is covered by forests and wood is one of the Balkan country’s most valuable natural resources. But instead of developing the nation, some politicians and private companies enrich themselves with the profits of the ‘green gold’. Forests are cut down for ...

JERUZALEM - Three friends with three different faiths travel together to the cradle of their religions: Jerusalem. They want to discover what they have in common and what divides them. But soon they are confronted with the harsh realities of conflict.

BELFAST - Northern Ireland this week celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. The 1998 peace brought an end to 30 years of civil war between Protestants and Catholics, but unrest seems to have returned in recent years. Northern Ireland politics has been tumbling into one crisis ...

BRUSSELS - What prevents a woman with FGM from going to the doctor? While there are more and more survivors of female genital mutilation (FGM) living in Belgium, strikingly very few visit the healthcare centres for women with FGM in the country. Through an in-depth investigation, this project aims ...

MINSK - Belarusian goods are invading Europe, despite the ban imposed by Brussels.

KYIV - Surrogacy is a growing business worldwide. 

BARCELONA/COTTBUS/ASSEN - Climate terrorism, rebellion, radicalization: increasingly violent words are being thrown around in the debate on climate activism.

BRUSSELS - Unknown is unloved, especially when it comes to liberal funerary heritage. Gravestones of freethinkers and other "sinners" have been neglected, forgotten or simply disappeared. And yet, things can be different. Three stories about "dog corners," the neglected memorial of the co-founder of ...

BRNO - Novy Liskovec is a peripheral urban district of Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic.

LALIBELA - The rock churches of Lalibela in northern Ethiopia are world heritage sites. But during the civil war, the village was occupied by civilian militias of the Tigray Army (TPLF) fighting the government army. The soldiers left Lalibela as a ghost village.

YEREVAN - Since 2017, nearly 100 Armenian citizens have served as proxy directors for a network of companies that have been used by prominent Eastern European oligarchs to move millions of dollars, shift assets from shuttered banks abroad, and pay for lobbying services in the United States.

BAGDAD - Climate change is causing an exodus in Iraq of farmers whose land is drying up. They are moving with their water buffaloes or selling their livestock. The government does not know how to deal with climate migration, environmentalists are threatened and even kidnapped.

BRUSSELS - How Nigerian girls are forced into Belgian prostitution. In 2018, 21-year-old Eunice Osayande is murdered on the streets of Brussels. The Nigerian woman was smuggled into Belgium with the false promise of becoming a hairdresser here and having a better life than in Nigeria.