#11 - Neil Buddy Shah: A deep dive into GiveWell’s work

In this episode, Luke Freeman interviews Sean Mayberry, the CEO of StrongMinds, a non-profit organization that provides group talk therapy to people in low-income countries to improve mental health. Sean shares his background, including his journey from working as a diplomat to founding StrongMinds, and his experiences with depression. He also explains the importance of mental health and the problem of depression across Africa, where over 66 million women suffer from depression but only 15% have access to care. Since 2013, they've treated nearly 175,000 women in Uganda and Zambia. Sean highlights the impact of depression on families, the need for effective interventions, StrongMinds plans for growth and more.   CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction to Sean and his journey to founds StrongMinds 03:48 - Why focus on depression? 07:57 - The scale of mental illness in low and middle income countries (LMICs) 10:12 - What causes depression in LMICs? 12:25 - StrongMinds treatment model and how it works 15:16 - The diagnostic scale PHQ-9 18:15 - How do you remove bias from measurement? 20:10 - The indirect benefits of treating depression 21:58 - Why has StrongMinds focused on treating women? 23:35 - Comparisons to cash transfers by Happier Lives Institute 25:50 - How Sean's experience in HIV/AIDS informs StrongMinds program delivery 27:48 - Why is mental health still overlooked? 30:06 - Scaling funding and reaching more donors 31:42 - The biggest challenges implementing effective mental health interventions globally 33:17 - Lessons learned in adapting to different demographics 34:50 - How is the team structured 36:25 - Why is group talk therapy rate in places like Australia and the US? 40:33 - What are Sean's proudest moments with StrongMinds? 42:30 - Elevator pitch and closing comments   CREDITS: Production: Grace Adams Video editor: Marco Shimabukuro Interviewer: Luke Freeman Guest: Sean Mayberry

We are thrilled to have interviewed Emma Hurst MP of the Animal Justice Party who is an animal advocate with a background in psychology. Emma shared with us some of the most successful animal welfare policies that she has seen implemented, as well as strategies for policy selection and why momentum is so important when campaigning for change. She also spoke about the importance of learning from other countries, exporting successful policies overseas, and the progress that is being made on animal welfare globally. Finally, Emma discussed the role of philanthropy in animal welfare, the importance of individual advocacy, and how to gain broader political support for animal protection issues. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Introduction 04:22 Successful animal welfare policies 06:13 Policy selection strategies 07:30 Why momentum is important 08:30 Learning from overseas 09:38 Exporting success overseas 10:54 Worldwide progress in animal welfare 13:06 Cellular agriculture policy 14:48 Proudest achievements of AJP 16:43 Psychology and messaging 17:52 Role of philanthropy in animal welfare 18:57 Individual advocacy 20:20 Enforcement of cruelty laws 22:37 Gaining broader political support 24:10 Coordination of campaigns 26:34 Anger fatigue 27:56 Being hopeful 29:37 Getting involved CREDITS: Production: Grace Adams Editor: Marco Shimabukuro Interviewer: Luke Freeman Guest: Emma Hurst

We were lucky to be joined by Rob Wiblin, Director of Research at 80,000 Hours as well as the host of the 80,000 Hours Podcast with Rob Wiblin back in the middle of last year. In this interview, we hear about what 80,000 Hours does and how to find an impactful career. Rob also discusses how laziness was a key factor in creating the 80,000 Hours Podcast and why people might benefit from thinking less about the social impact of their work. To listen to the 80,000 Hours Podcast with Rob Wiblin visit: https://80000hours.org/podcast/ Check out 80,000 Hours: https://80000hours.org/ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction with Luke and Grace 04:09 - Who is Rob? 05:15 - What does 80,000 Hours do? 07:32 - What factors should people think about when trying to find a career with positive impact? 10:40 - Some examples of existential risks (nuclear war, pandemics, bio-weapons) 14:05 - The difference between catastrophic risks and existential risks 16:00 - What are some ways people can address these risks? 19:18 - How can people from all types of careers help address these risks? 20:45 - Problem and career profiles 22:20 - How did Rob end up hosting the 80,000 Hours Podcast? 26:51 - The early days of 80,000 Hours and the growth of effective altruism 32:42 - Moral cluelessness 33:56 - Combatting overwhelm with fun and finding sustainable motivation 37:55 - Rob's final thoughts CREDITS: Production: Grace Adams Editor: Marco Shimabukuro Interviewer: Luke Freeman Guest: Rob Wiblin 

Enjoy this fascinating interview where Rob Mather talks through how he started the Against Malaria Foundation (AMF), how it operates today and how malaria could be eradicated. Rob is truly an engaging speaker and this interview is well worth listening to in full. To learn more about AMF: https://www.againstmalaria.com/ https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/charities/against-malaria-foundation CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction with Luke and Grace 02:18 - Introduction to AMF and backstory including Swim for Terri 20:40 - How Rob got 1 million people swimming for malaria prevention and transition to AMF 42:20 - AMF's funding sources 48:05 - How does AMF do monitoring and evaluation? 1:02:00 - How do bednets compare to chemoprevention, gene drives and other existing and upcoming malaria prevention strategies? 1:14:56 - What would Rob do next if malaria was eradicated? CREDITS: Production: Grace Adams Editor: Marco Shimabukuro Interviewer: Luke Freeman Guest: Rob Mather

We interviewed Rebecca Herbst earlier in the year about financial independence, improving financial literacy and effective giving. Rebecca is an early retiree and now spends her time working on her project to improve financial literacy, Yield & Spread, where 100% of the profits go to charity via The Life You Can Save. Rebecca is also on the board of directors for EA Salt Lake City. Yield & Spread: https://yieldandspread.wixsite.com/personal-finance/course-experience EA Salt Lake City: https://www.effectivealtruismslc.org/ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction and how Rebecca retired early and discovered effective giving 03:51 - How Rebecca feels about retiring early 05:01 - All about Rebecca's financial education project: Yield & Spread 07:27 - Some commonalities between effective altruism and financial independence 10:42 - What are some common mistakes people make with money? 14:48 - What should people be spending more money on? 15:44 - Different ways to think about managing money 21:30 - How Luke thinks about budgeting 26:49 - How much financial advice is universal 28:39 - Rebecca top financial tips related to giving 33:30 - Rebecca's thoughts on ethical consumption and ESG investing 41:06 - Resources on finance 44:08 - What can listeners do next? CREDITS: Production: Grace Adams Editor: Marco Shimabukuro Interviewer: Luke Freeman Guest: Rebecca Herbst

Member Geoffrey Martin-Noble shares how the Giving What We Can pledge inspired him to concrete action, and why he feels that donating to effective charities (even if you aren't sure how to choose between them) is more impactful than continuing to search for the "perfect" moral framework. We are so pleased that we've been able to interview some of our members about their experiences with effective giving. Big thank you to Geoffrey and our other community members who make Giving What We Can such a special organisation. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - What motivated you to take the Giving What We Can pledge? 02:11 - When did you take the pledge? 03:01 - Do you have advice for others considering the pledge? 04:08 - Choosing action over perfection OUR RESOURCES: ✍️ Take a giving pledge: https://givingwhatwecan.org/pledge 💕 Giving recommendations: https://givingwhatwecan.org/best-charities 🤑. 'How Rich Am I?' calculator: https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org 🤓. Recommended books, videos, podcasts: https://givingwhatwecan.org/resources 🙋‍♂️ Get involved: https://givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved   BE OUR FRIEND: 💌 Sign up to our monthly email newsletter: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/newsletter 🌍 Our website / blog: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/giving_what_we_can 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/givingwhatwecan 👍 Facebook: https://facebook.com/givingwhatwecan 🤳 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@givingwhatwecan

Member Sam Robinson discusses how he became interested in effective giving, his approach to donating, and how it feels to give. We are so pleased that we've been able to interview some of our members about their experiences with effective giving. Big thank you to Sam and our other community members who make Giving What We Can such a special organisation. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - How did you become interested in effective giving? 00:55 - The importance of keeping your desire to give 01:33 - Where do you donate? 02:12 - How it feels to give OUR RESOURCES: ✍️ Take a giving pledge: https://givingwhatwecan.org/pledge 💕 Giving recommendations: https://givingwhatwecan.org/best-charities 🤑. 'How Rich Am I?' calculator: https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org 🤓. Recommended books, videos, podcasts: https://givingwhatwecan.org/resources 🙋‍♂️ Get involved: https://givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved   BE OUR FRIEND: 💌 Sign up to our monthly email newsletter - https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/newsletter 🌍 Our website / blog - https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/giving_what_we_can 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/givingwhatwecan 👍 Facebook - https://facebook.com/givingwhatwecan 🤳 TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@givingwhatwecan

We are thrilled to have interviewed Lily Odarno, Clean Air Task Force's Director of Energy and Climate Innovation Program, Africa. Lily shared some fascinating insights about the work of Clean Air Task Force, the specific work they are undertaking across Africa, the intersection of growth and climate mitigation, the need for localised clean energy solutions and much more. This was one of our favourite interviews recorded this year and is not to be missed. Let us know what you learnt from this interview in the comments! (Also let us know what you think of the new introduction style, and whether we should keep it!) Learn more about Clean Air Task Force: https://www.catf.us/ Donate to Clean Air Task Force: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/charities/clean-air-task-force CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Opening chat between Luke and Grace 03:05 - Introduction to Lily and Clean Air Task Force 04:39 - The role of developing economies in climate change mitigation 07:44 - Clear Air Task Force's work across the African continent 10:49 - Climate change projections for Africa are mismatched with desire for growth 11:31 - Technologies that Clean Air Task Force is interested in 13:38 - Why is there a focus on a narrow range of tech, as well as reduced consumption? 16:04 - Funding sources influence policy 17:35 - Technology development within African countries 20:01 - Kenya as an example of renewable energy development 22:59 - How does CATF operate day to day? 26:03 - Specific challenges the African continent faces when it comes to decarbonisation 29:35 - What happens if we don't get it right? 34:24 - What is the role of philanthropy in climate change? 37:52 - Is Lily optimistic about change? 41:06 - Takeaways for the audience   CREDITS: Production: Grace Adams Editor: Marco Shimabukuro Interviewer: Luke Freeman Guest: Lily Odarno   OUR RESOURCES: ✍️ Take a giving pledge: https://givingwhatwecan.org/pledge 💕 Giving recommendations: https://givingwhatwecan.org/best-charities 🤑 'How Rich Am I?' calculator: https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org 🤓 Recommended books, videos, podcasts: https://givingwhatwecan.org/resources 🙋‍♂️ Get involved: https://givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved

Member Jo Duyvestyn discusses how she learned about Giving What We Can, what motivates her to donate 10% of her income to effective charities, and how much she enjoys being part of a community of people who share her values. We are so pleased that we've been able to interview some of our members about their experiences with effective giving. Big thank you to Jo and our other community members who make Giving What We Can such a special organisation. CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Jo introduces herself 00:08 - How did you learn about Giving What We Can? 00:27 - What motivated you to take the pledge? 01:35 - How does it feel to give? 02:09 - "It's not as scary as you think!" (Jo's advice for others) 02:52 - Being part of a community  OUR RESOURCES: ✍️ Take a giving pledge: https://givingwhatwecan.org/pledge 💕 Giving recommendations: https://givingwhatwecan.org/best-charities 🤑. 'How Rich Am I?' calculator: https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org 🤓. Recommended books, videos, podcasts: https://givingwhatwecan.org/resources 🙋‍♂️ Get involved: https://givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved   BE OUR FRIEND: 💌 Sign up to our monthly email newsletter - https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/newsletter 🌍 Our website / blog - https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/giving_what_we_can 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/givingwhatwecan 👍 Facebook - https://facebook.com/givingwhatwecan 🤳 TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@givingwhatwecan

Choosing where to donate is incredibly difficult. Luckily, the charity evaluator GiveWell spends thousands of hours on program research each year to help people find highly-impactful giving opportunities. In this episode, Luke sits down with Neil Buddy Shah, GiveWell's managing director at the time of recording, for a deep dive into GiveWell's work. We cover GiveWell's origin, approaches, and focus areas, as well as Buddy's personal background and relationship to effective giving. We also discuss why funding gaps exist despite foreign aid, and the important role donors play in improving people's lives. Buddy responds to some common critiques of GiveWell's work, and clarifies some misconceptions about how the organisation operates.   Neil Buddy Shah is now the CEO of The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). Note: This interview was recorded in April 2022. GiveWell has since updated its cost-effectiveness bar to be higher than it was at the time of recording.  A shorter version of this interview is available on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/BC64OnNHH9A 👉To learn more about GiveWell, visit their website: www.givewell.org CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Introduction  02:12 - GiveWell's origin 02:57 - GiveWell's goals and research approaches 06:39 - How does GiveWell define and measure effectiveness? 09:52 - Can you talk more about how GiveWell calculates cost-effectiveness? 10:52 - How does GiveWell evaluate impact that is harder to measure? 14:50 - Transparency 15:15 - The importance of small donors  19:40 - Why does GiveWell roll over funds when highly-effective organisations still have funding gaps?  22:50 - Critic's question: does GiveWell only focus on "measurable" programs and ignore policy/advocacy initiatives? 26:06 - Can you talk more about the concept of fungibility?  29:30 - Critic's question: GiveWell primarily focuses on health-based approaches to poverty alleviation. What about economic approaches?  32:12 - Critic's question: Do GiveWell's recommendations take into account the needs and preferences of the communities they aim to serve? 36:08 - Does the continued existence of extremely cost-effective giving opportunities like the Against Malaria Foundation indicate a failure of the public sector? 39:17 - People's reactions to the cost to save a life (and other striking figures!) 43:12 - Why aren't GiveWell's recommended programs funded by government foreign aid organisations? 46:43 - GiveWell's role in grantmaking  50:22 - Clarifying additional common misconceptions about GiveWell 52:56 - Buddy's personal background and relationship to effective giving 56:30 - Buddy's ask for listeners CREDITS: Production: Grace Adams Video/audio editor: Marco Shimabukuro Interviewer: Luke Freeman Guest: Neil Buddy Shah OUR RESOURCES: ✍️ Take a giving pledge: https://givingwhatwecan.org/pledge 💕 Giving recommendations: https://givingwhatwecan.org/best-charities 🤑'How Rich Am I?' calculator: https://howrichami.givingwhatwecan.org 🤓Recommended books, videos, podcasts: https://givingwhatwecan.org/resources 🙋‍♂️ Get involved: https://givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved BE OUR FRIEND: 💌 Sign up to our monthly email newsletter: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/newsletter 🌍 Our website / blog: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/giving_what_we_can 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/givingwhatwecan 👍 Facebook: https://facebook.com/givingwhatwecan