Sustaining Fact-Checking Organizations: SA7 Sub-Grants 2024-2025

May 1, 2025

SA7 project sub-grants was launched in September 2024, as part of the strategic goals of the Arab Fact-Checkers Network (AFCN) from ARIJ, to support and build the capacities of fact-checking organizations within its community. This eight-month grant, which ran until the end of April 2025, targeted five fact-checking organizations from 5 Arab countries:

1- Annir – Libya

2- Tafnied – Egypt

3- Fareq – Syria

4- The Checker – Iraq

5- Tahaqaq – Morocco

These organizations were selected after a comprehensive assessment of their needs, based on financial and detailed plans they submitted, along with an evaluation of their work and commitment to AFCN code of principles.

The grant included the implementation of various projects and activities specifically designed to meet the unique priorities of each organization, enabling them to continue and develop their work, especially in light of the significant challenges posed by funding interruptions at the beginning of 2025, resulting from the cessation of support from the USAID and the decline in contributions from major technology companies (such as Meta and Google) in supporting the field of fact-checking.

Key Activities Implemented by the Five Organizations Supported by the Sub-grants:

1- Production of over 350 fact-checking materials.

2- Production of in-depth reports through open-source investigations.

3- Capacity building through internal training workshops for work teams.

4- Rebuilding and developing the websites of the fact-checking organizations to improve the quality of work and audience reach.

5- Digital awareness campaigns on the harm of information disorder and the importance of fact-checking.

What did the five organizations say about the “SA7” Sub-grant?

The grant sustained the continuity of the organization’s functionality, in addition to achieving various success stories. Hossam AlWakil, Editor-in-Chief at Tafnied – Egypt, stated, “Through the sub-grant, we were able to develop new sources of income. By training the team on open-source investigation techniques and producing in-depth reports consecutively, Tafnied started receiving requests to produce paid in-depth reports from media organizations, in addition to paid training requests from various entities in the field of fact-checking and open-source investigations.”

Asia Anwar from The Checker organization – Iraq, added, “Thanks to the sub-grant, the organization was able to relaunch the checker website after a period of interruption due to the lack of funding, which marked a turning point in the organization’s digital presence and restored audience interaction with it. The training done under this support also reactivated direct communication between the organization and the Iraqi journalistic community, which led to increased trust from journalists in the platform.”

Ghassan Ben Chehaib, Director of Tahaqaq Platform in Morocco, commented on the impact of this support stated, “Tahaqaq project relaunched its fact-checking platform by appointing a professional editor-in-chief and expanding the team by recruiting freelancers and volunteers, which enhanced the quality of content and efficiency of implementation. The publication rate increased to 15 posts per month, which contributed to expanding reach on Instagram to over 74K accounts. Also, the experience of producing awareness videos was a qualitative leap in content delivery and contributed to increasing audience interaction and building trust in the project as a reliable source for verifying news.”

Amjed Khrwat, Fact-checking Unit Team Leader at the Annir initiative in Libya, added that the grant “helped Annir build a stable and effective institutional foundation for the fact-checking unit, paving the way for launching in-depth investigations in the future and expanding cooperation with Arab and regional platforms.” He also emphasized the importance of the grant in “expanding partnerships with independent fact-checkers and training institutions”, as the partnership with the “Tafnied” organization within the grant resulted in training “Annir” team members on open-source investigations.

Focusing on internal trainings for team capacity building, Ghiath Al-Jundi, the CEO of Fareq organisation in Syria, said, “Thanks to the grant, we were able to develop our professional capabilities as well as expand our societal impact and enhance our ability to provide our services in a more sustainable and effective manner.”

The second part of the “SA7” Project grant was announced on April 2, 2025, as part of the AFCN campaign on International Fact-Checking Day, which will primarily focus on supporting the sustainability and continuity of the work of several Arab fact-checking organizations/initiatives amidst the current funding crisis.
It is worth noting that the “SA7” Project is one of AFCN’s strategic projects supported by CFI, which aims to develop fact-checking tools and resources, build pre-publication fact-checking capacities in media organizations, and build post-publication fact-checking capacities in fact-checking organizations/initiatives in the Arab world.