Supported projects

KIEV - 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 billion Euro in 2017.

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 across the desert and the high seas in the last 5 years or so.

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 deal beforehand. 

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 that." 

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, but also to eradicate the Yazidi, a community with its own religion and an ancient culture. Fate awaited residents who were locked down by IS. The men were killed; women and girls sold as slaves and boys were put in IS training camps.

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 proponents and opponents are more than ever at odds. 

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 application influences how users behave.