Hello!
We hope you had a great August despite the continued rains. Read through this month’s newsletter to see updates on the EA PH Board, the ongoing Introductory Fellowship, and much more!
This is also a reminder to be mindful of emergency hotlines and to stay up to date with your area's weather and news.
See EA Philippines’ thoughts on the recent typhoons, resources on where to give, and how to prevent future disasters by Nastassja Quijano and Brian Tan.
Stay safe and good luck this September!
📣 August 2024 Highlights
SPOTLIGHT: Changes in the EAPH Board and new Board Guidelines
Last August 27, EA Philippines announced Brian Tan’s voluntary resignation from the board. In his place, Rochelle Bata will be stepping in starting on September 27, 2024.
Brian has been reflecting on how best to balance his commitment to EA Philippines with his own personal growth and responsibilities. After much consideration, he realized that stepping back from the board is the right decision for him now.
We’re also thrilled to announce that Rochelle “Roc” Bata is stepping in to fill Brian’s place on the board. The board has started to onboard Roc, and she will formally be a board member on September 27, 2024. Roc is the founder and executive director of Flourish, a local nonprofit that aims to make effective mental health interventions accessible to Filipino adolescents. She is also the executive director of the Dory Foundation, a new US-based foundation that aims to support initiatives toward a meaningful life in a post-AGI (artificial general intelligence) world. We are excited to have Roc with us, given her extensive experience in operations, non-profit management, and the EA movement.
We send our appreciation to Brian for all the work he has contributed to the community and his commitment to the philosophy of Effective Altruism. We are also excited and grateful to Roc for accepting this role!
Moreover, the current board has released this document that contains the board’s role description and governing guidelines to enhance its accountability and collaboration with the executive team. By keeping us accountable and aligned with our goals, these guidelines will help us better serve the needs of EA Philippines.
Start of the EAPH Introductory Fellowship!
EA Philippines conducted its first four sessions of the Introductory Fellowship! 🌟
We onboarded 34 fellows interested in learning about the principles that drive Effective Altruism. They are composed mostly of young professionals as well as some university students.
We kicked off the Fellowship with a welcoming event last August 10. Participants spent some time to get to know one another before an Intro to EA talk, expectation settings, and a socials! Vegan lasagna and mushroom calamari was also served by Cruising Platos.
Week 1, 2, and 3 consisted of discussion sessions where fellows were given resources to learn before the weekly session where they were broken up into groups to discuss the ideas presented. They covered topics in Prioritization & High-Impact Careers, Open Truth-Seeking & Effective Giving, and Radical Empathy & Cause X.
We thank the fellows for their active participation! If these topics interest you, you can look into the Effective Altruism Virtual Programs.
Updates on Fundraising
EA Philippines' current funding as of August 28, 2024:
Meta Charity Funders: ~Php1,262,500
Individual Donations: ~Php204,500
CEA Group Support Funding: ~ Php 395,000
Total amount raised: ~Php3,124,500
Total minimum funding goal: ~Php 1,606,700
Total preferred funding goal: ~Php 2,566,000
This means we’ve currently covered ~123.9% of our preferred funding goal.
Thank you so much to everyone for supporting EA Philippines, its cause, and the community. Funding wasn’t looking too bright a few months ago, but we are happy to say that we have the necessary funds to pursue the plans we’ve set out to do for the year.
If you’d still like to help fund EA Philippines, you can do so by clicking the button below:
🇵🇭 Philippine EA: Local News
Our local EA-aligned initiatives and organizations are continuing their tremendous work in doing the most good they can. We’d like to highlight and commend the recent milestones and achievements of the following local EA initiatives:
Pierce Manlangit of Paro Institute along with John Hurst and James Kimber, won the 2024 Next Generation for Biosecurity Competition with their paper “Improving Practices in Biosecurity Investment: The Role of Equitable Participation and Resource Distribution in Mitigating Biological Risks.”
Among the top-scoring papers, the judges of the competition also selected a runner-up paper “The SEED Framework: Advancing gender equity in Southeast Asia agriculture for sustainable and resilient biosecurity” by Dominique Anne S. Aluquin along with Jo Yi Chow and P.T. Nhean. - linkClark Urzo, Strategic Director of Whitebox Research holds a talk on “Stick-y Science: How to Poke Around Inside Large Language Models” for Gen AI Philippines. - link
Brian Tan, Co-founder and Operations Director of Whitebox Research also presents a talk for Gen AI Philippines titled “Why and how Whitebox works on AI safety.” - linkAnimal Empathy Philippines (AEP), in collaboration with the City Government of General Trias, holds the Agri-Kabataang GenTriseño project. This is a youth volunteers capacity-building workshop where AVES and passionate young volunteers came together to learn more about sustainable agriculture and animal welfare. - link
Last August 4, AEP also teamed up with SK Biclatan to hold education and community engagement activities within the barangay. This is intended to encourage compassion for non-human beings primarily among young adults from the area. - linkHealthy Futures Global supports the Philippine Department of Health and local government units (LGUs) by providing technical assistance for testing all pregnant women for HIV & Syphilis as well as providing treatment for positive cases. - link
Whitebox Research held its Demo Day. After a 3-month guided research phase, members of their fellowship shared their projects on AI interpretability and safety. - link
⭐️ Opportunities
Upcoming Conferences
EA Global Boston - link
November 1 – 3, 2024
Application deadline: 20th October 2024 (11:59 pm EDT)
EAGxAustralasia - link
November 22 – 24, 2024
Upcoming Programs, Workshops, and Reading Groups
Introductory EA Program - Effective Altruism Virtual Programs - link
START HERE IF YOU’RE NEW TO EA!
04 November - 29 December 2024
Application deadline: 13th October 2024 (11:59 pm EDT)
In-Depth EA Program - Effective Altruism Virtual Programs - link
04 November - 29 December 2024
Application deadline: 13th October 2024 (11:59 pm EDT)
The Precipice Reading Group - Effective Altruism Virtual Programs - link
2 December - 26 January 2025
Application deadline: 10th November, 2024 (11:59 pm EDT)
Ambitious Impact Programs - link
Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program
Application deadline: September 15, 2024
AIM Founding to Give
Application deadline: September 15, 2024
AIM Research Fellowship
Jobs, internships, and volunteering
Centre for Effective Altruism
Head of Operations - 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
Funding Opportunities - link
📖 Further Reading
Global EA-related news
Ambitious Impact posts “Our Recommended Charity Ideas for February 2025” along with their full research reports.
Fish Welfare Initiative (FWI) launched a new study.
Some interesting reads & watches
“Why We Shut Down” by Sarah Eustis-Guthrie Ben Williamson - link
The Maternal Health Initiative’s founders explain why they decided to shut down.
Jonathan Birch on the edge cases of sentience and why they matter - link
“Mpox and H5N1: assessing the situation” by Cody Fenwick - link