Supported projects

BRUSSELS - Because of the unrest in the Ukraine and the Middle East the past year, Europe has become acutely aware of its energy dependency. Brussels presented a new European Commissioner for Energy Union, but real collaboration is still a long way off.

KABUL / BAGDAD - Tine Danckaers travelled to the Middle East and spoke in Afghanistan and Kurdish Iraq with people who applied for asylum in Belgium but returned to their country of origin 'voluntarily' or after a forced deportation. A dossier on return as part of the European migration policy, the flexible interpretation of security, perspectives or lack thereof, homesickness and paralysis.

BRUSSELS - In the Netherlands, it has been possible for years: a visit to the Nationaal Archief (National Archive) to find out what your grandfather or grandmother's wartime past was. In Belgium, however, these archives remain closed, for fear that 'certain passions' will flare up. Anoek Nuyens and Lynn Berger on the struggle of historians and archivists for more openness.

STANLEYTOWN - In 1964 some 2000 hostages were saved out of the hands of Congolese rebels by Belgian para troopers. But the events behind that success story paved the way for the autocratic regime of President Mobutu.

BRUSSELS - Something's brewing in Brussels. Photographer Kurt Deruyter has been working for years on a project in the Brussels neighbourhoods of Molenbeek and Cureghem. Together with De Standaard-journaliste Sarah Vankersschaever, he has spent the past few months looking for a new perspective on these neighbourhoods, where chaos, entrepreneurship and cosmopolitanism dominate the streetscape.

OKEIGBO - Yemi Oduwale, a Flemish boy born in '86, has a Belgian mother and a Nigerian father. His grandfather is ill and wants Yemi to succeed him as 'chief' in Nigeria. But Yemi was born and raised in Europe and doesn't know anything about the culture of the Yoruba, one of the largest tribes in West Africa. What's more, it's been more than 15 years since he last visited Nigeria.

BRUSSELS - What do politicians think about media and political reporting? In recent months, Apache.be has spoken with the party chairmen of the liberal party Open VLD, the Christian democratic party CD&V, the socialist party Sp.a and the green party Groen and with various media specialists and communication staff of those parties.

MALI -  In comic strips Timbuktu is the end of the world, and the Tuareg who live there have been attracting westerners for centuries. With minimal means they survive in the Sahara, heroically fighting the colonial occupation. Volkswagen named a car after them.

LE BOURG-D'OISANS - The term climate change usually conjures up images of melting glaciers, rising sea levels and outsize hailstones. But what will be its impact on life on Earth? Science journalist Tim Vernimmen interviewed scientists in Southern Europe who document species' gradually shifting comfort zones.

NAYPYIDAW - What nobody expected happened anyway. The army in Myanmar (formerly Burma) initiated a transition that had to transform one of the world's oldest dictatorships into a democracy. After fifty years of repression, a new constitution was drawn up and democratic elections were held. Western diplomats and companies plunged directly into the reborn Southeast Asian nation.

ANTWERP - Smuggling, fraud and tax evasion have been the order of the day in the diamond business in Antwerp for decades. The diamond merchants in the 'Square Mile' are living in a vacuum, in a social and judicial bubble that is sustained in part because of the cooperation of politicians and magistrates.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Far removed from the stadiums and the sports industry, this series portrays Brazilian FANÁTICOS. We meet people who are part of the real popular culture of the Brazilian Futebol.

BRUSSELS - Europe is not doing well. At least, that is what we would say if we would talk about it at all. Because we rarely mention our continent, let alone discuss it in detail. Europe, that's what's going on above our heads. We don't care. Europe costs us too much and dictates too much.

CAIRO - Three years after the revolution daily life in Egypt is finally, slowly, resuming its pace. How do you continue after the initial euphoria fades away and a stone-cold reality looks you dead in the face? The young Flemish journalist Annabell Van den Berghe takes us along through her Cairo, the city where she studied and where she still often spends weeks or months for her job.

NEUQUÉN - On the outskirts of Neuquén, at kilometre 7 of the Ruta-7, is the Zanon ceramic tile factory. This is where they do something very special. Ten years ago, Zanon's workers took over their factory. The expropriation was completed in January.

BACAU - Georgiana Halmac, the eldest daughter in her family, turns fifteen this winter. She lives with her six siblings in a social housing flat on the outskirts of Bacau, Romania. Her mother Liliana, an economic migrant in Turin, will not return until the summer.

PALERMO - Italy: it is not a neighbouring country and yet it often feels like it is. But how well do we know that country and its people? Couldn't our knowledge of Italy and the Italians, almost seventy years after they emigrated en masse to our country, reach a little further? 

LA PAZ - On the roof of the world, a man looks out of the window, hoping for snow. Until recently, Samuel operated the ski lift of the only ski slope in Bolivia, just like his father before him. Samuel still loves to ski but the snow is disappearing. Lost in the clouds, he is now the only remaining employee and takes care of the dilapidated buildings. Tourists from all over the world come to visit the Chacaltaya for the breathtaking view. Samuel serves them tea.

SERGIJEV POSAD - Western man's fascination with the Russian Orthodox faith has grown steadily over the past hundred years. Revolutions, totalitarianism, wars, oligarchy, Putinism and mafia could not change that. Johan de Boose looked behind the scenes of the church. 

THE HAGUE - More than 60,000 people in the Netherlands are infected with salmonella every year. The resistant ESBL bacterium has been found on three-quarters of the chicken meat there. Is our food as safe as manufacturers and ministers claim?

BUTEMBO - This documentary tells the story of exceptionally strong women in eastern Congo. The region has been the scene of a bloody conflict for over 15 years. Positive resistance is growing in the city of Butembo. The population is trying to regain control over its fate and life. When the violence in and around Butembo increases, the inhabitants are not watching from the sidelines. Sometimes they literally run into danger.

CAIRO - In Egypt the aftermath of a bloody summer is still palpable. In the southern city of Minya, the blackened church spires contrast a group of demonstrators holding yellow balloons: Morsi supporters are demanding that their president rule once again.

MANILA - The Philippines is one of the 17 megadiversity countries on the planet. In terms of biocultural diversity and natural resources, it is an Ali Baba's cave. But not for much longer. Its biocultural heritage is being destroyed on a massive scale by mining, biofuel plantations and illegal deforestation. Sand mining, dredging and land reclamation are also contributing to this destruction.

CAPE TOWN - The Cape Flats near Cape Town in South Africa are renowned for their large-scale violence. It is very difficult for young people to escape the violence, drugs and criminality.

BERN - What makes Switzerland surprisingly different, that organic, regional products, fair trade and eco-labels score the highest here? Who really knows how to put the Swiss on the track of a sustainable economy?

BUCHAREST - When Romania became a member of the European Union in 2007, a transitional measure was voted in Belgium whereby Romanians needed a work permit in order to be able to work. A direct consequence of this was that many Romanians ended up in the informal circuit or were employed under the wrong statute.

KISHESHE - Despite the efforts and the enormous amounts of money invested in the management of the conflict and the post-conflict situation in Eastern Congo, the different peace agreements failed to create the conditions for sustainable conflict resolution. Conflict in Eastern Congo; a tale of war and dreadful peace agreements.

DAKAR - In 2012, 19-year-old Mamadou was one of the 5742 men, women and children expelled from Belgium. They ended up in the oblivion of public opinion. No news, good news. And if we may believe the responsible Secretary of State for migration Maggie De Block, the Belgian return policy is a huge success.

GHENT - In 2014 it will be exactly fifty years ago that the first Turkish labour migrants arrived in Ghent to work in the defunct textile factories. Today, more than 20,000 inhabitants of Ghent (about one in twelve) have their roots in Turkey. How Ghent became a small 'Turkey on the Leie' in half a century is the central question in this book about the people behind those numbers.

SAMARINDA - About one third of the natural vegetation on the island of Borneo, one of the most biodiverse places in the world, was lost in the past thirty years. Through the decades, scientists and conservationists working on the island have grown a thick skin, and came to realize that reserves will not suffice to save the rainforest.