It’s really exciting to see EA-based charity analysis in other countries! A few quick comments/questions:
Re the standout charities, you said “This is because none of the organizations’ Philippine operations have had a full cost-effectiveness analysis done by GiveWell.” It may be feasible to adjust GiveWell’s CEA for some of these, e.g. for deworming, you can vary parameters like baseline worm prevalence. I’m not sure how doable it is but just an idea to explore.
I think it’s definitely a great idea to communicate this more widely and promote evidence-based giving in the Philippines, but how to do so beyond the EA community is a nontrivial question. May be worth checking with The Life You Can Save.
Among the charities, Oxfam is the only one that seems really broad (rather than running more focused programs like the others). The main reason it’s recommended seems to be that TLYCS recommends it (rather than being evaluated using the rigorous criteria of effectiveness, cost-effectiveness etc.). It’s probably also much less funding constrained than the others. So I’m a bit skeptical of it.
Sorry if I missed this, but what’s the reason for there being only 1 animal welfare charity? My impression is there are many animal welfare groups active in Asia, though I don’t know much about the Philippines. Lewis Bollard’s animal welfare newsletter (and I think the EA animal welfare fund he manages) mentions some orgs in Asia—not sure if you can find more that operate in the Philippines.
Thanks for this feedback! Here are some of our initial answers.
Ideally, we would have done a cost-effectiveness analysis on the work of the recommended charities with local operations, and this is more doable than others on the list. We are still in the process of building our relationship with them so that they are more open and willing to share their information with us and finding capable volunteers to conduct this.
Yes, we would also like to be mindful about the best approach on this one. Thanks for the great tip to approach TLYCS and we will contact someone from there or someone previously affiliated to provide insight on this!
Yes, Oxfam in the Philippines do work in a broad range of areas, but they have flagship programs in poverty alleviation and social protection such as cash transfers, where there is some reliable evidence of effectiveness. However, it is correct that we have not found any available evaluation of their specific program yet. The team is reconsidering this, but we will also reach out to their local team to get more information on their financials.
Our team has done some research on EA-aligned animal charities, and when it comes to this, it is still actually limited in the Philippines. Aside from Animal Kingdom Foundation, Fish Welfare Initiative is an org starting up here, but their program is not as concrete in the Philippines compared to other locations (i.e. Indonesia).
Thank you again for your feedback, and we thoroughly appreciate it!
It’s really exciting to see EA-based charity analysis in other countries! A few quick comments/questions:
Re the standout charities, you said “This is because none of the organizations’ Philippine operations have had a full cost-effectiveness analysis done by GiveWell.” It may be feasible to adjust GiveWell’s CEA for some of these, e.g. for deworming, you can vary parameters like baseline worm prevalence. I’m not sure how doable it is but just an idea to explore.
I think it’s definitely a great idea to communicate this more widely and promote evidence-based giving in the Philippines, but how to do so beyond the EA community is a nontrivial question. May be worth checking with The Life You Can Save.
Among the charities, Oxfam is the only one that seems really broad (rather than running more focused programs like the others). The main reason it’s recommended seems to be that TLYCS recommends it (rather than being evaluated using the rigorous criteria of effectiveness, cost-effectiveness etc.). It’s probably also much less funding constrained than the others. So I’m a bit skeptical of it.
Sorry if I missed this, but what’s the reason for there being only 1 animal welfare charity? My impression is there are many animal welfare groups active in Asia, though I don’t know much about the Philippines. Lewis Bollard’s animal welfare newsletter (and I think the EA animal welfare fund he manages) mentions some orgs in Asia—not sure if you can find more that operate in the Philippines.
Hi @sindirella,
Thanks for this feedback! Here are some of our initial answers.
Ideally, we would have done a cost-effectiveness analysis on the work of the recommended charities with local operations, and this is more doable than others on the list. We are still in the process of building our relationship with them so that they are more open and willing to share their information with us and finding capable volunteers to conduct this.
Yes, we would also like to be mindful about the best approach on this one. Thanks for the great tip to approach TLYCS and we will contact someone from there or someone previously affiliated to provide insight on this!
Yes, Oxfam in the Philippines do work in a broad range of areas, but they have flagship programs in poverty alleviation and social protection such as cash transfers, where there is some reliable evidence of effectiveness. However, it is correct that we have not found any available evaluation of their specific program yet. The team is reconsidering this, but we will also reach out to their local team to get more information on their financials.
Our team has done some research on EA-aligned animal charities, and when it comes to this, it is still actually limited in the Philippines. Aside from Animal Kingdom Foundation, Fish Welfare Initiative is an org starting up here, but their program is not as concrete in the Philippines compared to other locations (i.e. Indonesia).
Thank you again for your feedback, and we thoroughly appreciate it!