I had similar thoughts on Romania, which allows you to donate a certain amount of your income tax to charity (so you just fill in a form and then, at no cost to you whatsoever, your income tax is diverted to a charity of your choice). At first glance, this is an amazing opportunity, but then you realize that Romania has so many problems of its own. But Effective altruism means different things in different countries. If the ‘give to developing countries charities’ EA meme just doesn’t work in one country and some other does, ‘give to the most effective charity working within the country’ for example, then that’s the most effective thing you can do there.
There’s a recent paper which is sort of the DCP for noncommunicable disorders but only for Mexico, with some very low $ per DALY averted numbers:
But Effective altruism means different things in different countries. If the ‘give to developing countries charities’ EA meme just doesn’t work in one country and some other does, ‘give to the most effective charity working within the country’ for example, then that’s the most effective thing you can do there.
This is a very good idea and I was already planning on moving on that direction with EA in Spanish. I researched many charities and giving opportunities in Latin America. Unfortunately, I didn’t find many exceptional ones, though there are some organizations that are decent enough.
I was about to start talking about charities in Latin America when I decided to stop the project for the moment. This had to do with the fact that I considered that the project was not very worthwhile, as I mentioned on the text, but also because I lacked a full dedicated team to work with me. We were a few people working on our spare time on this, and most of us were busy with other EA activities.
If I start the project again sometime (with a larger team, more time and funding), I will definitely start promoting the best local charities of each country, among many other things.
Great that you’re working on this!
I had similar thoughts on Romania, which allows you to donate a certain amount of your income tax to charity (so you just fill in a form and then, at no cost to you whatsoever, your income tax is diverted to a charity of your choice). At first glance, this is an amazing opportunity, but then you realize that Romania has so many problems of its own. But Effective altruism means different things in different countries. If the ‘give to developing countries charities’ EA meme just doesn’t work in one country and some other does, ‘give to the most effective charity working within the country’ for example, then that’s the most effective thing you can do there.
There’s a recent paper which is sort of the DCP for noncommunicable disorders but only for Mexico, with some very low $ per DALY averted numbers:
http://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/344/bmj.e355.full.pdf
maybe you could convince people to focus on any of these high effectiveness areas that they mention.
Thanks :)
This is a very good idea and I was already planning on moving on that direction with EA in Spanish. I researched many charities and giving opportunities in Latin America. Unfortunately, I didn’t find many exceptional ones, though there are some organizations that are decent enough.
I was about to start talking about charities in Latin America when I decided to stop the project for the moment. This had to do with the fact that I considered that the project was not very worthwhile, as I mentioned on the text, but also because I lacked a full dedicated team to work with me. We were a few people working on our spare time on this, and most of us were busy with other EA activities.
If I start the project again sometime (with a larger team, more time and funding), I will definitely start promoting the best local charities of each country, among many other things.