Supported projects

BRUSSELS - Journalists at Knack, LeVif and RTBF have joined forces to investigate the peculiar financial management of the non-profit organisation Poverello. They greedily buy real estate that often remains empty. The organisation appears to be very rich, but hardly ever uses its money for working ...

BRUSSELS - Joy and intimacy between family members and friends was an obvious thing before the corona crisis, but became a scarce commodity during it. Journalist Arkasha Keysers and photographer Aurélie Geurts captured the coming together of family and friends as soon as it was allowed again.

EL ZONTE - El Salvador is the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as its official currency: "One thing is certain: it is here to stay."

DHAKA - Faced with poverty and lack of opportunities, young Bangladeshis often dream of a better life in Europe that will allow them to provide for their families. Dalaals or ‘travel agents’ encourage and capitalise upon these hopes. Among those that take the risky journey to Italy known as 'the ...

VINDELN/LO MANTHANG/OLD CROW - Through the project Indigenous People Today, we investigate the effects of climate change on indigenous peoples, their ways of life and unique cultures. These are indigenous peoples in the northern hemisphere, living in arctic or high-altitude areas.

AMSTERDAM/BRUSSELS - 70 to 90 per cent of patients with unexplained symptoms are women. Why do female patients receive a (correct) diagnosis less often? What is the impact of this on their lives? How can this be done differently and better in the future? In the podcast Geen kleine man (No little man ...

ANTWERPEN - After images of her were non-stop circulating online, 13-year-old Destiny took her own life. For her, it was the only way out of all the judgements and hurtful comments. In a physical murder, the killer is visible. But who is to blame when everyone online has participated in the murder ...

PRAGUE - A cross-border team of journalists has focused on the potential corruption of solar energy support in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. More specifically, in the Czech Republic, the government has postponed changes to the law that would allow the state-guaranteed price of solar power to ...

PARIS - Le Monde and The Investigative Desk delved into the multi-layered world of Big Tobacco’s 21st century astroturfing. They discovered that under the guise of defending individual freedom, fake consumer organisations are promoting e-cigarettes. 

BRUSSELS - 1 in 10 Belgians uses heavy painkillers such as oxycodone, tramadol and fentanyl. Effective painkillers, but with a high addiction risk: about 8% of everyone who comes into contact with opioid painkillers becomes dependent on them. The longer you use, the higher the risk. Research ...

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.

MELILLA - The Spanish enclave of Melilla, geographically part of Africa, politically part of the European Union, is located on Morocco's northern coast. The border between the continents here consists of a triple fence with countless pits and guard posts.

STEPANAKERT - Nearly 30 years after Nagorno-Karabakh's declaration of independence, the region's simmering conflicts have flared up again. Nagorno-Karabakh is a country that does not officially exist. Still, it is fought over hard. Journalists Roel Nollet and Marijn Sillis travel to the Southern ...

SAMOS-KOS - This cross-border, independent investigation focuses on the newly opened 'closed controlled access centre' on the island of Samos. It is the first "pilot project of the European Union" and opened on 18 September 2021. It was financed entirely (43 million euros) by an EU Commission fund ...

BARCELONA - Europe's beekeepers are struggling. Over the past decades, European policies, especially the Common Agricultural Programme (CAP), have encouraged the industrialisation of agriculture, leaving bees with no space to thrive and exposing them to many harmful substances, such as pesticides.

GERMANY - xHamster is one of the most visited porn websites in Germany and the world. The xHamster bosses have been in hiding for years. Now research reveals for the first time two leading figures behind Germany's most visited porn site.

MADRID - In 2010, VRT correspondent Sven Tuytens moved from Brussels to Madrid. Based on his experiences, he tries to lay bare a piece of Spain's soul.

In Echo, named after the poem 'Echoes' by Audre Lorde, Neske Beks mercilessly puts her finger on the sore spot. Not only is the white view still dominant in our society, but Black women are doubly disadvantaged: they are not white and they are not men.

MOSUL - Many residents of Mosul, Iraq's second city, view the power seized by Shiite militias in the city as a new occupation. Even if the terror group ISIS could be chased away militarily, they do not know how they will ever get rid of the militias that have corruptly infiltrated every aspect of ...

BUDAPEST - There she is, the granddaughter, in Budapest in front of her grandfather, who died suddenly five days ago. None of his three daughters, who all live in Flanders, travelled to Hungary for the funeral. From one moment to the next, the granddaughter, who loved her grandfather dearly, steps ...