Supported projects

CARACAS - In "Puerta sin Colores", Marianne Cap, together with reporter Roel Nollet, goes to Venezuela. She worked there for a while in a home for boys with a difficult home situation. Four years later, she returns. 

Companies, trade unions, interest groups, NGOs, professional lobbyists: they all do their best to influence Belgian politics. How do they do that, and by what means? How far do they go? How do they conquer the 'Rue de la Loi' and win politicians over? These are questions that seldom get an answer. Until now. In 'Lobbying in the Wetstraat' Dominique Soenens looks at how lobbying works.

BELGIUM - Since 1999, companies are subject to appear before criminal courts for the crimes they commit. How often did this happen? When did it not happen? For what reason? What punishment did the public prosecutor ask for if the case did go to court? And what punishment did the judge pronounce?

Massimo Carminati, boss of an alleged mafia group in Rome, is said to have made millions of euros before his arrest in December 2014. But this financial treasure is nowhere to be found.

BELGIUM - For the first time in Belgium, political parties were evaluated for their transparency. The research is based on foreign experiences (in Spain and Chile) that are limited to observing the presence of information on the parties' sites. Civic platform WijBurgers, which is author of the Transparency Index of the political parties in 2016, has improved the methodology by using certain statistics available in Belgium (Political Database, Cumuleo).

Journalists from west Europe have broadcast and printed stories about east Europe that are distorted or false, leading to a fake presentation of reality which victimises nations and some of their poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

Chorqisloq, a village in a remote region in Tajikistan, is under strict observation of local police, security services and other agencies. 69 inhabitants have left for Syria in the past three years. Fear seems to reign among village residents and relatives of IS fighters are closely monitored by the security services. ''Nobody knows how they left, not even their own family members'' whispers a primary school teacher. Her colleague adds: "We can not talk about them".

Sex before marriage is punishable by lashes and incarceration. Adultery even with the death penalty. And that is why promiscuous sexual behavior in Iran is the norm. Two journalists, with the support of the Pascal Decroos Fund, made a captivating undercover report from the underbelly of Tehran.

"We lost our media”, stated Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán in a rare interview in early 2015. He was referring to the media empire of a longtime ally-turned-enemy.