From May 2024 to January 2025, CFI supported the Independent Media in the Mediterranean 2 project, ran by Orient XXI

This regional cooperation had enabled the network's media to break out of their local cocoon.

In 2024, thanks to new funding from AFD, Orient XXI brought together the same partners, with the exception of a Syrian media outlet, to launch a new phase of the project aimed at strengthening the network's structure, in order to support freedom of information in North Africa and the Middle East. At a time when the media's existence is under increasing threat due to growing political pressure and funding difficulties, this objective has become paramount. CFI has therefore decided to renew its support for the project by awarding a grant to Orient XXI, in order to facilitate a number of activities from May 2024 to January 2025.

A meeting of editors-in-chief, organised in Tunis at the end of September 2024, brought together 8 members of the network and provided an opportunity to discuss future publication topics, future “residencies” between network media and other investigative projects. It also provided an opportunity to review the regional situation, particularly in Gaza and Lebanon. 
Some members, including Alain Gresh, Director of Orient XXI, joined a debate on the future of independent media in the region, at the Nawaat festival, a Tunisian media outlet which was celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Hosting journalists in “residence” at one of the network's media outlets has been a recurring feature of the project since its launch. However, the residency organised in January 2025 was innovative in that, for the first time in France, it brought together 3 journalists from different media on the topic of investigation and data journalism. Hosted for 3 days by partner media outlet Blast, the journalists met all the members of the editorial team, and in particular the journalists in the investigation department, to exchange practical advice and methods, mainly on the handling of sources and the timing and conduct of an investigation depending on the format (written and video format). 
On the fourth day, the journalists were welcomed to Orient XXI's editorial office for an interview with an investigative journalist, a meeting with the editorial team and discussions with various members of the media.

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On the final day, the 3 journalists received training in data journalism for investigative reporting, organised by CFI on its premises, during which an expert familiarised them with the methods for searching and exploring a database, with an introduction to data-visualisation through a presentation of the main tools available. 
With the aim of providing expertise to network members to complement the activities implemented by Orient XXI, in December 2024 CFI also offered an online training course on IT security, which was attended by around fifteen journalists.

CFI's support has made it possible to develop an ambitious editorial project on the topic of mental health in the Arab world, which had never been done before and which continues to be a reference for various journals and seminars. A public conference was organised in July 2024 in Beirut, in partnership with three researchers from the Institut Français du Proche-Orient (French Institute of the Near East), to strengthen the synergies between the research and journalistic approaches, but also to share the dedicated publication dossier more widely, to an Arabic-speaking and French-speaking public.

The organisation of a workshop with the network's Jordanian partner in January 2025 enabled the media to begin work on a new dossier on cultural expression as a means of resistance in a difficult context (war, authoritarianism, economic stagnation).

Orient XXI will continue to run the project until March 2026..