Public broadcast by Radio Ndeke Luka to combat disinformation and rumours in Boali, Central African Republic, on 16 December 2023. © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu / Fondation Hirondelle.

Foreword

30 years old: the age of resilience

In 2025, Fondation Hirondelle celebrated its 30th anniversary. For three decades, journalists, moderators, technicians and administrators have been working in around twenty countries to provide reliable and useful information in fragile contexts. Our work seeks to foster more peaceful, inclusive, democratic and fair societies, and thereby contribute to attaining the 16th Sustainable Development Goal.

The international climate of crisis and conflict over territory, ideology, trade and information in which we work worsened in 2025 and in the early months of 2026. To contribute, through independent journalism and dialogue, to the peaceful resolution of problems affecting local populations confronted with crises, we launched a new 2025–2028 strategy comprising 4 priorities:

Provide journalistic content and promote forums for dialogue that respond to the needs of populations. For three decades, we have been working in around twenty countries to provide reliable and useful information in fragile contexts.
Support media players and civil society organizations to produce and disseminate quality information.
Advocate support for general-interest media in crisis situations and publicise the impact of our work.
Become an even stronger and more agile organization.

2025 was a year of achievements and successes, as well as uncertainty and learning.

In terms of content production and support for media, we launched new projects, including one in Chad; explored possible actions in humanitarian crisis contexts such as Haiti; and continued our work in the most fragile areas, such as the Sahel and Central African Republic, where Radio Ndeke Luka celebrated its 25th anniversary. Listeners numbers in CAR, Niger and Mali remained stable despite budget cuts in the latter two countries.

Half of our projects consist of initiatives to provide support to media, improving the self-sufficiency and skill sets of local media outlets ranging from Ukraine, to Tunisia, Guinea-Bissau and Madagascar, to Myanmar and Thailand. The main objectives of these projects are to reinforce local editorial teams; assist with changes; and strengthen these local teams despite the security, political and financial difficulties faced by our partners.

At an organizational level, despite repeated news of funding cuts, Fondation Hirondelle achieved a financial result almost identical to that of 2024, ending the year with the positive result necessary to consolidate its free capital. While there were some changes both at our headquarters and in the field, we were able to maintain staff numbers. Our digital policy, focused on data protection and ownership of our tools, paid off in 2025 as the risk of dependence on certain platforms became apparent.

Our projects in Ukraine and- in future – in Syria, highlight the importance of international and transitional justice, two issues that are of key importance in both of these countries and elsewhere, and that are covered by our media outlet Justice Info, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2025.

For three decades, we have been working in around twenty countries to provide reliable and useful information in fragile contexts.

In conclusion, the 15 events organised to celebrate Fondation Hirondelle’s 30th anniversary in 2025 shone a spotlight on our growing reputation and thriving network of partners. The Fondation Hirondelle Board appreciates the resilience of our field staff, who carry out their work in the face of pressures and danger. They are supported by the professional and efficient team at our headquarters in Lausanne.

The results we achieve are made possible by our funders, who trust Fondation Hirondelle and understand that independent journalism is essential to achieving stability and peace, as well as to countering the scourge of disinformation.

Tony Burgener

Chairman of the Fondation Hirondelle Board

Caroline Vuillemin

General Director, Fondation Hirondelle