As GiveWell grows and matures as an organization, we’re excited to continue learning from others in our field. We believe that actively seeking feedback on our work enables us to do more good. In May 2023, we launched a Research Council, a small group of experts we can consult on research questions and grant investigations.
We aimed to create a Council whose collective experience includes:
- Deep familiarity with specific areas GiveWell researches
- Substantial time working and/or living in the geographic areas where we fund work (low- and middle-income countries, primarily in Africa and South Asia)
- Conducting research, especially randomized controlled trials (RCTs), on global health and development programs
- Taking effective programs from pilot to scale
- Working in partnership with major funding institutions and with country governments, especially the governments of countries where we support programs
So far, we’ve held three meetings with this full group to share further details of our research process and how we set our cost-effectiveness threshold. During these meetings, Council members provided helpful feedback about ways we might improve our research.