Thank you for adding this James. I think you clearly articulated some important points. Last week’s events are going to give the EA community a lot to reflect on and learn from. I feel this is one of those growth moments that, because it is so unusually difficult and painful, gives an important opportunity to collectively re-examine just how valuable some historically under-appreciated organizational structures can be.
The Effective Altruism community is a young organization in all meanings of the phrase and, despite some challenges like this that can arise as a result, I still believe that it has extraordinary potential to learn, nimbly evolve, and grow in ways unparalleled by any other organization I know of. I hope we can continue to value mistakes as learning opportunities and use them as signposts where we need to direct our attention for future development.
Thank you for putting this together Stephen. I am a facilitator for the Virtual Program and have been giving some thought to additional reading/discussion groups to propose. It’s been my experience that the most impactful virtual groups provide access to good data along with opportunities to make personal/emotional connections. I know very little about Malawi other than what I learned reading the youth edition of William Kamkwamba’s The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind with my children. Without other expertise, I can’t speak with authority about its value as an authentic representation of the true events, but I believe the book accessibly described some of the topics you illustrate here and I know of several universities that adopted it as required reading for all incoming students, so I would guess its an accurate telling. What are your thoughts about a group that reads the original book and supplemental content as a way of engaging with the growth and development situation in Malawi?
If there are others who would like to offer their thoughts for or against this idea, I would be happy to hear them. If this seems promising and anyone has ideas for helpful additional content, I would be happy to try to think some more about a proposal.