Supported projects

KHASAB / MUSCAT - The US and Iran continue to exchange attacks. US strikes are followed by Iranian retaliation, with targets including American bases in Gulf states such as Oman's Musandam exclave, which is separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates and situated right on the Strait of Hormuz.

BROOKLYN – Amidst pastel colours, carefully styled product photos and phrases such as “made with love”, “authentic” and “sustainable”, the online marketplace Etsy promises an alternative to the anonymous mass production of fast fashion. It seems that anyone who shops here is not supporting a factory, but ‘real makers’: people with a face and a story. But is that really the case?

KORTRIJK / WEVELGEM - The airport of Kortrijk-Wevelgem is the least well-known of the three regional airports in Flanders. It is considerably smaller than the airports in Antwerp and Ostend, particularly in terms of passenger numbers. Yet Kortrijk-Wevelgem is not spared from criticism either.

HAVANA - The US is imposing an oil embargo on Cuba with the aim of bringing about regime change. Professor Domínguez López of the University of Havana stresses that the current problems cannot be viewed in isolation from more than sixty years of US sanctions. Those sanctions have never given Cuba the chance to fully develop its social model.

PORTO-NOVO - Can the close partnership between Belgium and Benin serve as a model for sustainable European-African cooperation? The failure of European states in Sahel countries such as Mali and Niger has shown that military cooperation alone does not work. In Benin, Belgium offers not only military but also economic support.

BUENOS AIRES - For decades, Argentinians have been plagued by monstrous price increases. With a solemn promise to put an end to hyperinflation, Javier Milei came to power at the end of 2023. Since then, Milei has been dismantling the state step by step, part of his libertarian agenda that is increasingly dividing the nation.

BRUSSELS - Spring and mineral waters from the Ardennes, the High Fens and East Flanders contain traces of ultra short PFAS. Analyses ordered by Apache show that TFA has seeped deep into the natural water veins.

BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM - According to the European Commission, half of the sustainability claims on company websites are unproven, vague, unclear or downright deceptive. Clothing companies in particular use terms such as 'sustainable' more frequently than other companies without providing further information. Since 2021, both the Dutch and Belgian governments have been searching the internet for misleading sustainability claims.

DAMASCUS - The Mesopotamia, an ancient cradle of civilisation, is formed by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. But due to drought and the construction of Turkish dams, the rivers are in danger of drying up.

AMSTERDAM – Shell knows how to navigate the highest circles and the shortcuts through political swamps. The oil and gas giant operates in 70 countries. Most of these are not democratic constitutional states. Until recently known as Royal Dutch Shell, Shell has to deal daily with weak or autocratic governments, corruption, unrest, war and terrorism. How does it navigate these challenges?

BRUSSELS - You never wear one third of the clothes in your wardrobe. Another third you rarely ever put on. You have not touched nine out of ten outfits for a whole year. You throw away more clothes than any other European. And yet you keep buying new clothes. Because you feel that you need them. Because every morning you wake up and think you have nothing to wear.

BEIRUT - More and more Lebanese are leaving - they see no future in the country that is virtually bankrupt. The situation has deteriorated further: the Lebanese lira continues to depreciate; access to electricity and water is increasingly limited. Soon, even telephone and internet services may fall if the government does not provide the state-owned company with diesel for its generators.

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 war over chips, and the European Union is investing billions in the chip industry.

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 proceeded to plunder land and conclude dubious contracts with local chiefs in the past, however, has led to a deep dissatisfaction with Belgian investors to this day. 

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.

NAIROBI - European media regularly report on human rights violations by multinational companies 'from here'. Various Flemish media reported that a Brussels construction company would engage in forced labour in Qatar in preparation for the World Cup. Swedish journalists Tobias Åkerblom and Moa Kärnstrand revealed that a Swedish clothing brand would employ children aged 14 in Myanmar. However, multinationals born and raised in emerging economies are often forgotten.

BRUSSELS - More and more business leaders are positioning themselves as the best CEO a country can wish for. However, experience learns that they rarely succeed.

COPENHAGEN - All over Europe, people are looking for a different economy. They are working on human alternatives to competition and growth. Journalist Tine Hens tells their story.

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.

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.

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?

LIMA - Peru is one of the economically fastest growing countries of Latin-America. Still, inequality stays high and social conflicts are raging throughout the country.

RABAT - It used to be no more than the curse of acrimonious racists. Today, however, it is an optimistic dream. Increasingly more well-educated Moroccans born in Belgium, children or grandchildren from former migrant workers, decide to build a future in the country that their parents fled from so many years earlier.

ZURICH - Is there economic life besides capitalist companies and public enterprises? If you take a broader view of the world, you will see how financial capitalism is failing most of all, plunging the global economy into one crisis after another. You will also see how many governments are failing to find the answer to numerous problems and are fleeing their responsibility for a well-functioning economy.

BEIJING - China has been on a spectacular economic rise for several years. It threatens to overtake Europe and the US as a global power. Is it a bubble that is about to burst, or should the West really fear the "yellow peril"? Who are China's modern-day gold-diggers, and are Chinese workers being exploited?

LIAOZHONG - Apart from the recent SARS crisis, stories about China tend to be rather over-the-top. They praise the country's unprecedented economic growth and the potential of its 1.3 billion-strong consumer market.

ANTWERP - Denise Van den Broeck spent three years in the harbour, sailing on ships and accompanying officials as they went about their work. The result is a collection of reports and stories set in the space between land and sea, where globalisation and multiculturalism are more than just empty words.