Hello everyone!
For this newsletter, you’ll hear about EA Philippines’ first on-site Komunidad of the year, some progress with EA Philippines’ fundraising efforts, and several developments from local EA-aligned organizations. We’re also excited to open applications for the EA PH Introductory Fellowship Core Team.
We are looking forward to another eventful month ahead!
📣 Highlights
SPOTLIGHT: April 2024 Komunidad in Bayanihan Cafe
Last April 20, EA Philippines held its first face-to-face socials of the year! After some updates on fundraising and events happening soon, the members of the community dropped by to spend an afternoon rekindling with one another.
Thank you to all who were able to join us! We hope you had a great time and we look forward to seeing you all again.
We would also like to thank Kira Chan for being our volunteer for this Komunidad, Nastassja Quijano for the donuts, and Elmerei Cuevas for making this event possible!
Updates on Fundraising
EA Philippines has received the following donations since its call for funding last March 21:
Manifund: ~Php 40,300
EA Forum Post: ~Php 32,555
Individual Donations: ~Php 115,100
CEA Group Support Funding: ~Php 391,500
On May 2, CEA granted EA Philippines USD 6,790 in funding. This amount is intended to run the organization’s operational expenses for 1 year.
Total amount raised as of May 2: ~Php 579,455
Total minimum funding goal: ~Php 1,606,700
Total preferred funding goal: ~Php 2,566,000
This means we’ve covered 36% of our minimum funding goal or 22.5% of our preferred funding goal.
We are immensely grateful to everyone for all your support, whether it be in the form of your presence, time, or donations!
If you’d like to help fund EA Philippines’ operations and staffing, you can do so through here:
Applications for the EA PH Introductory Fellowship Core Team are open!
EA Philippines will be running its Introductory Fellowship in July 2024! For us to be able to cater to more aspiring do-gooders, we will need help from members of the community to run this program.
We are currently looking for a Program Head and a Fellows & Facilitators Manager who will work alongside one of the co-directors in heading the program from preparation to completion.
If you’d like to find out more about these roles, you can see more details here.
If you are interested in this role, you can apply through here.
🇵🇭 Philippine EA: Local News
Our local EA-aligned initiatives and organizations have had another great month of doing good! We’d like to highlight and commend the recent milestones and achievements of the following local EA initiatives:
Phlourish Mental Health Initiative Inc. (Phlourish), a local EA-aligned mental health nonprofit, is set to start their pilot testing by the end of May 2024, involving 200 Filipinos aged 13 to 15 from Bulacan, Metro Manila and Benguet. The pilot aims to test the effectiveness and potential for scale of guided self-help workbooks (toolkit) in improving Filipino adolescents’ life satisfaction. The toolkit to be tested was internally developed by Phlourish, based on the findings of their Needs Assessment and User Experience Research and expert consultations. It has also undergone expert reviews and two stages of user testing, each comprising at least three small group testing. A key component of the program is the guidance provided to the toolkit users by lay health mentors, in the form of 15-minute weekly remote check-in for eight weeks. In relation to this, Phlourish held a virtual orientation with their lay health mentors last April 19.
Phlourish is a registered nonprofit co-founded by Roc Bata, Joseph Cubar, and Shen Javier, that aims to make evidence-based and cost-effective mental health interventions accessible to Filipino adolescents. They are a recipient of Ambitious Impact’s Mental Health Funding Circle Spring Grant. Phlourish has forged collaborations with over 15 partners, including NGOs, LGUs, and School Division Offices, who are enlisting their 13 to 15-year-old adolescent constituencies for the pilot testing and, potentially, the cohorts that will follow.Last April 6, Animal Empathy Philippines (AEP) presented its Capacity Building Program to over 200 Sangguniang Kabataan Officers in Imus City. This program “aims to instill compassion and empathy for farmed animals, particularly among youth leaders in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs), empowering them to initiate positive change in their communities.” AEP also supported the Walk Together for Compassion 2024 last April 20, 2024 in Altaraza Central Park, City of San Jose Del Monte Bulacan and participated in AGILA’s Animal WelFair in Ateneo de Manila University last April 22 and April 24-26, 2024.
Last April 13, Alternative Protein Research Mapping Initiative in the Philippines (APRMI PH) held the first-ever alternative protein symposium in the Philippines. The symposium gathered over 20 participants from industry, academia, and government fields to delve into the technical aspects of alternative proteins and how they can be applied in the Philippines. The symposium featured a keynote presentation from Good Food Institute APAC, workshops, and networking opportunities. Congratulations to APRMI PH!
WhiteBox Research recently held a hackathon to end the training phase of their 5-month AI Interpretability fellowship. Over two days, nine fellows worked in groups to try their hands on a mechanistic interpretability project.
Condor Global Southeast Asia, together with EA UP Diliman and AI Safety Network, will be organizing the local node for the upcoming AI Security Evaluation Sprint by Apart Research. This event will take place on May 24-27 and you can express your interest to receive updates, to donate, or to work with them using this form.
If you or someone you know is running a local EA initiative, please feel free to reach out to Sam (sam@effectivealtruism.ph) and Zian (zian@effectivealtruism.ph) to share any milestones and updates you’d like us to feature! We are proud and excited for all the progress each of these organizations has achieved this quarter. We are hoping for another great month ahead!
⭐️ Opportunities
Upcoming Conferences
EA Global London - link
MAY 31 – JUNE 2, 2024
Application deadline: 19th May 2024 (11:59 pm BST)
EA Global Boston - link
NOVEMBER 1 – 3, 2024
Application deadline: 20th October 2024 (11:59 pm EDT)
Virtual AI Safety Unconference 2024 (Online Event) - link
MAY 23 [2:00 pm] - MAY 27 [1:00 pm] Pacific Standard Time
Upcoming Programs, Workshops, and Reading Groups
Introductory EA Program - Effective Altruism Virtual Programs - link
START HERE IF YOU’RE NEW TO EA!
27 May - 21 July 2024
Application deadline: May 5, 2024
In-Depth EA Program - Effective Altruism Virtual Programs - link
27 May - 21 July 2024
Application deadline: May 5, 2024
The Precipice Reading Group - Effective Altruism Virtual Programs - link
27 May - 21 July 2024
Application deadline: May 5, 2024
Global Challenges Project Existential Risks Workshop - link
July Workshop - Oxford
September Workshop - Boston
BlueDot Impact
Welfare Matters: Farmed Animal Welfare Incubator (FAWI) - link
This incubation program aims to seed new projects, started by individuals who are based in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, or Vietnam.
Application deadline: May 12, 2024
Jobs, internships, and volunteering
Epoch AI
Operations Associate - link
List of Challenges and Prizes Related to Top Problems - link
List of Internship and Residency Programs, Machine Learning / Software Engineering - link
List of Alternative Proteins Opportunities - link
📖 Further Reading
Global EA-related news
Future of Humanity Institute shuts down and releases its final report.
Probably Good announces its new core advice series that helps provide a concise introduction to some of the most important ideas for planning an impactful career.
Some interesting reads
“Nobody Knows How to Safety-Test AI” by Will Henshall - link
“What should the Effective Altruism movement learn from the SBF / FTX scandal? (with Will MacAskill)” by Spencer Greenberg of Clearer Thinking (podcast episode) - link
“What would Ruth and Henry do?” by Lewis Bollard - link