by ARIJ’s AFCN team
In 2022, fifty-three fact-checking initiatives and organisations, active and inactive, have been identified across sixteen Arab countries according to “Meeting the Challenges of Information Disorder in the Global South“, a research conducted by ARIJ’s Arab Fact Checkers Network (AFCN), led by Stellenbosch University with the support of International Development Research Centre (IDRC). In that research study, it was also noticed that a few larger organisations for fact-checking services in Arabic have emerged, such as AFP Fact Check, Fatabyyano, Misbar, and a few others. But few of these initiatives, organisations, have not been very active, because they face financial constraints, and their teams are small and mostly composed of volunteers.
In 2024, ARIJ’s AFCN’s researchers, as part of a research project on information disorder in the Global South, led by Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), have discovered in the 2nd year of the study which focused on understanding the challenges facing Arab fact-checking organisations/initiatives, that one of the biggest challenges for those is “institutionalisation” since the biggest percentage (72%) of them, are initiatives with no clear or fixed structure, working voluntarily and are composed of small teams with limited resources. [1]
Any organisation or set up needs to ensure for its survival, a clear vision and mission to be supplemented by an adequate workflow system, rules and KPI’s to achieve its vision and mission. The lack of those makes the delivery of goals difficult, and often fails to grow the institution and help it meet new challenges and remain efficient and focused on completing its mission.
The focus groups conducted by ARIJ’s AFCN in 2024, showed that the workflow at Arab fact-checking organisations/initiatives is highly diverse, with no uniform work model among them. There is no clear pattern: some are a mere ‘one-man show’, few are organised and structured efficiently, and others fall somewhere in between, with a small team handling multiple roles or tasks. Despite these differences, all Arab fact-checking organisations/initiatives share the common goals of promoting transparency and credibility.
One of the Arab fact-checking organisations managers from Egypt stated during one of the focus groups:
“The donors usually trust big organisations more than the small ones and provide them with more support. As a result, the big organisations will improve and develop their workflow and will grow, and the small ones will stay struggling and in the same place.”
At the end of 2023, ARIJ’s AFCN was one of the winners of the IFCN grant “Grow”, in a project that aims to focus on empowering 6 AFCN organisations/initiatives and help them build adequate capacities to achieve their mission. The capacity building program encompasses coaching and training in three key areas: organisational capacity building, communication strategy, and developing a safety model. The substantial impact on the six fact-checking organisations/initiatives afterward was clear, as the project has enabled them to sustain their future and stay afloat and fully operational.
“Go Far, Go Together” project was announced during the closing ceremony of ARIJ16 annual forum in Amman, Jordan on December 4, 2023. Due to funding shortages among other reasons, the ‘Tahaqqaq’-Morocco (meaning verify in Arabic), had to suspend and later close its operation permanently in 2023. Recently, ‘Tahaqqaq’-Morocco became part of “Go Far, Go Together” project, receiving support from ARIJ’s AFCN, and has since resumed its activities and publishing, as well as its cooperation with other organisations and experts to build a strategy for its continued future work.
Hassane Chaabane, the media management expert from the project, said:
“In order to succeed any team must be knowledgeable about their organisation vision and its goals, as great work is not done by one person but requires teamwork. Clarity of mission and vision is an advantage for the organisation and is key to better performance.”
It is very crucial to strengthen organisational capacity for Arab fact-checking organisations/initiatives, encompassing administrative and managerial aspects. Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of day-to-day operations, is one of the main areas of ARIJ’s AFCN efforts to drive the transformation and change in this domain in the next few years, which is vital for their sustainability and ability to combat the dissemination of mis/dis/mal information.
In conclusion, organisational development is crucial to enhance financial control, viability, and modes of operation, opening the door for systemic thinking, participative approaches that help fact-checking organisations tackle internal challenges, improve decision-making, and develop successful output.
AFCN was established by ARIJ at the end of 2020, in response to the spike witnessed in mis/dis information. AFCN, quickly developed to become a regional network composed of 41 fact-checking organisations/initiatives from several Arab countries, offering them support under four key pillars: capacity building, networking, safety and innovation.
[1] The scope of the study is 37 fact-checking organisations/initiatives from AFCN’s community spread in 10 Arab countries, 22 of these organisations filled out the survey.
