Unitus today released a rather sudden announcement that it will be releasing its staff and “shift[ing] its resources and activities to areas of maximum socio-economic impact for underserved people throughout the world that have yet to attain either scale or commercial viability.” I agree with Sean Stannard-Stockton that while the announcement presents the closing as…
The GiveWell Blog
Year: 2010
Aid is not the only thing that reduces poverty
Earlier this month, a Gates Foundation representative (Mark Suzman, Acting President of the Global Development Program) made a post epitomizing what I feel is a key fallacy in the world of giving: that any and all progress in struggling countries can be attributed to aid. The thesis of his post is that “A greater focus…
Singularity Summit
Among those who follow GiveWell, there is some interest in the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence and its mission of lowering the risks associated with the creation of artificial intelligence that “[leaves] human abilities far behind.” We have been asked several times to share our views on its work and the value of a donation…
GiveWell will be moving to Mumbai (India) for 3 months
GiveWell’s 3 full-time staff (myself, Elie Hassenfeld and Natalie Stone) will be living and working in Mumbai from mid-August through late November. Developing-world aid has become a major focus for us, and we hope to have more opportunities to see aid work up close (along the lines of my trip to Africa earlier this year)….
Microfinance’s “failure” to reach the poorest
USAID’s most recent report on microfinance and microenterprise development tells an interesting story and, in my view, shows just how widely microfinance has been (and continues to be) misunderstood. While many advocate that microfinance institutions focus on people under the global “extreme poverty line”, USAID’s report implies that actually doing so is rare and even…
New evidence that cleaner water -> less diarrhea
Providing clean water to people living in developing countries is a cause that many donors are interested in. Among other hardships, unclean water can lead to diseases such as diarrhea, which is responsible for millions of child deaths annually. Unfortunately, we have found little evidence that charities’ efforts to improve water infrastructure in the developing…