Thanks Aidan, Aaron and Khorton for your comments—much appreciated!
I definitely agree that GiveWell does excellent work, and we are indeed thinking of including a GiveWell charity (or more) in our final recommendation to the donors, which will probably include a few charities rather than just one. As Aidan mentioned, GiveDirectly seems like it might be the best fit with the donors’ criteria, among GiveWell’s top charities (some of their standout charities might also be a good fit).
Regarding education interventions, GiveWell did not have any recommendations, so using their recommendations was not an option. We could have recommended against donating in this sector based on GiveWell’s review, but we didn’t do that primarily because the donors assign intrinsic value to better education, while GiveWell does not (so here it’s more a question of values rather than expertise).
I believe GiveWell have said that schistosomiosis deworming can lead to better school attendance and performance, although I think the evidence is mixed. Probably worth looking into.
We’re planning to look into early childhood interventions (including things like deworming, improved nutrition, etc.) separately. Having said that, we had put deworming aside since it’s basically presented by GiveWell as “low probability of high impact” which didn’t appeal to the donors. But as you say, we should review what the evidence is in terms of education impact. I’ll add that to my to do list.
Thanks Aidan, Aaron and Khorton for your comments—much appreciated!
I definitely agree that GiveWell does excellent work, and we are indeed thinking of including a GiveWell charity (or more) in our final recommendation to the donors, which will probably include a few charities rather than just one. As Aidan mentioned, GiveDirectly seems like it might be the best fit with the donors’ criteria, among GiveWell’s top charities (some of their standout charities might also be a good fit).
Regarding education interventions, GiveWell did not have any recommendations, so using their recommendations was not an option. We could have recommended against donating in this sector based on GiveWell’s review, but we didn’t do that primarily because the donors assign intrinsic value to better education, while GiveWell does not (so here it’s more a question of values rather than expertise).
I believe GiveWell have said that schistosomiosis deworming can lead to better school attendance and performance, although I think the evidence is mixed. Probably worth looking into.
We’re planning to look into early childhood interventions (including things like deworming, improved nutrition, etc.) separately. Having said that, we had put deworming aside since it’s basically presented by GiveWell as “low probability of high impact” which didn’t appeal to the donors. But as you say, we should review what the evidence is in terms of education impact. I’ll add that to my to do list.