Belgian Bridge Programme

• Eligibility: Dutch-speaking and French-speaking journalists residing in Belgium
• Target Region: Belgium
• Application Language: Dutch, French

The Belgian Bridge programme supports collaborative investigative projects led by Dutch-speaking and French-speaking journalists residing in Belgium who work together on local issues of national importance. The goal is to produce multilingual journalism that exposes how issues arise on both sides of Belgium’s language border, thereby bringing communities closer together. The programme is in its pilot phase in 2026, with a total of €100,000 available, supported by the King Baudouin Foundation. Grants cover working time and expenses including logistics, travel, insurance, access to legal support, translations, and access to technology and data sets.

Eligibility

• Teams must include at least one Dutch-speaking journalist and one French-speaking journalist, or a bilingual journalist who performs both roles.
• All applicants must be professionally active journalists legally residing in Belgium.
• Projects must address an issue rooted in the local community that also carries broader relevance beyond that community.

Requirements

• Team members’ details.
• A description of the intended investigation.
• Information on intended publication channels, including letters of intent (LOI) from news outlets.
• A detailed budget prepared using the programme’s budget template.
• Administrative documents as specified in the grant rules.

How to Apply

Register with an email address on the Journalismfund Europe grants portal, then complete and submit the online application before 15 October 2026 at 1:00 p.m. CET (Brussels time). Pre-application advice is available via phone or a video-call appointment; contact details are on the funder’s page. Apply here.

For more information, please visit this page.