ARIJ’s AFCN Supports Sustainability of 9 Fact-Checking Organizations in 2025

January 4, 2026

The Arab Fact-Checkers Network (AFCN) from ARIJ announced during its annual campaign on April 2, 2025 (International Fact-Checking Day), the launch of the second round of its competitive “SA7” project sub-grant. This comes amid the escalating challenges and political changes sweeping the field of fact-checking and their direct impact on funding sources.

Designed in two phases, the sub-grants were a cornerstone for supporting the sustainability and development of the AFCN’s community organizations. The first phase (September 2024 – April 2025) focused on operational development and capacity building for five organizations, while the second phase (June – December 2025) came as an emergency response to bridge funding gaps resulting from the decline in support from international donors. 

This support formed a true lifeline that enabled 9 fact-checking organizations/initiatives operating in 6 Arab countries, to continue their critical role in combating misinformation and disinformation.

1. Akhbar Meter (Egypt)
2. Tunifact (Tunisia)
3. Chayyek (Jordan) – Lebanon)
4. Kashif (Palestine)
5. Sawab (Lebanon)
6. Hakikah (Yemen)
7. BN Check  (Tunisia)
8. Yoop Yup (Yemen)
9. VARChecker (Yemen)

These organizations succeeded during the grant period in producing 636 fact-checking reports, covering sensitive and influential issues including the war on Gaza, local conflicts, economic crises, and health information. The grant also ensured the continuity of the core teams in these organizations.

Mousa Abu-Qauood, Director of the “Chayyek” initiative which covers Jordan and Lebanon, says, “Without this grant, Chayyek would have ceased operations completely.”

The impact of the grant is clearly evident in the continuity of fact-checking report production, as Dina Ibrahim from “Akhbar Meter” in Egypt stated, “This grant enabled us to ensure the continuity of the project, maintain our team, and produce quality fact-checking content on issues of health, climate change, and human rights.”

Meanwhile, the grant was “the bridge that moved our initiative from a stage of volunteer work to organized institutional work, which contributed to establishing Yoop Yup as a reference for the public and media in confronting misinformation,” as explained by Mazen Fares, Director of the “Yoob Yup” platform in Yemen.

It is worth noting that the “SA7” project, is one of the AFCN’s strategic projects supported by the French Media Development Agency (CFI), which seeks to develop fact-checking tools and resources, build pre-publication fact-checking capacities in media organizations, and develop post-publication fact-checking capacities in fact-checking organizations in the Arab world.