Effective Altruism Meet-up and Capacity Building Workshop.

EA fellows meet to share ideas and knowledge about doing the best…

On the 18th and 19th, of November 2022, Effective Altruists from diverse disciplines met in Abuja, Nigeria to foster cooperation and escalate knowledge spread in a bid to effect positive change in Nigeria and beyond. The 2-day meet-up and capacity-building workshop touched based on EA cause areas, namely: Artificial Intelligence Safety, Effective Altruism Promotion, Global Priorities Research, Improving Institutional Decision-making, Factory Farming, Biosecurity, Nuclear Security, and Climate Change.

Brief History and what EA means.

Founded over 2 decades ago, Effective altruism is a philosophical and social change theory popularized by Prominent philosophers influential to the movement including Peter Singer, Toby Ord, and William MacAskill. Effective Altruism by definition is the idea of doing the most good we can by using available evidence and rational thinking in decision-making, such as finding charities that are the best in the world at helping others and helping people find careers where they can have a significant social impact, conducting research into what the world’s biggest problems are and how we might prioritize them. Effective altruism is about prioritizing our efforts when doing good, so we can help others as much as we can.

Since its inception till date, EA communities have massively spread all over the world. Each year, students from the world over converge at the EAGx to discuss and share knowledge in the advancement of doing the most good and impacting the world positively. Similarly, EAs from all over the world, irrespective of which EA communities, converge during the EA Global conference to discuss critical issues affecting the world and share thoughts and ideas about improving the world.

The EA meet-up and capacity-building workshop brought together scholars, founders of NGOs, students, and businesses together in a 2-day intensive workshop. New fellows who just joined the EA Nigeria community were drawn from the six geo-political zones of the country. It is only natural to join the community after a prior fellowship (known as introductory to EA) to get acquainted with the principles and core ideas of Effective altruism before induction into the EA fold.

Anchored by the EA Nigeria Director, Zakariyau Yusuf, and two other promising EAs, Alimi Salifou, and Chukwudi Idowu, in the prestigious Barcelona Hotel, Wuse 2, brought to the front burner critical topics for discussion such as climate change, factory farming, global priorities, and the likes.

The event which started at exactly 3 pm on Friday, the 18th saw a welcome speech delivered by the National director and facilitator of the workshop, Zakariyau. Immediately after his speech, the opening session and icebreaker followed and were anchored by Alimi. What followed immediately after the icebreaker was a workshop titled ‘self-development principles’ proudly delivered by Gidon and Alimi. The National Director follow-suit with a workshop which he called ‘productive disagreement’. In between, participants were called upon in break-up sessions to apply the concept of productive disagreement by choosing a specific cause area and arguing for or against it. The idea was to look for a common ground to either agree or disagree. Immediately after the session, participants were entertained with soft music and dinner which was exclusively vegan menus. After dinner, participants retired to their respective hotels for an evening of relaxation with games – anchored by Alimi and Chukwudi

The second and the final day of the meet-up and workshop drew the curtain open at exactly 10 am, for a call-up to breakfast for all participants and facilitators. During this time, participants were all welcome to network and facilitate breakfast speed meetings. Just after breakfast, networking, and speed meeting, at about 11:00 am, the first workshop was delivered by Alimi Salifou, with a title which he called ‘fermi estimate’. At exactly 2:00 pm, the participants took a short break for the launch.

A productive disagreement workshop followed thereafter and was facilitated by the national director – Zakariyau Yusuf, which lasted for 2 hours. Like the previous day, again attendees were welcome to choose causes area selection and argue for or against them. Priority causes area were drawn from the following:

AI Safety

• Promoting effective altruism
• Global priorities research
• Improving institutional decision making
• Ending factory farming
• Biosecurity
• Nuclear security
• Developing global health
• Climate change

The final activity was a panel discussion which was anchored by Zakariyau Yusuf. Panel discussion topics were drawn from animal welfare, global priorities, climate change, and general topics. Attendees were also given the privilege to ask panelists questions. The panelists were: Damola Morenikeji (Founder -Curiosity Africa), Amb. Joseph Odika (founder of Animal Protection Organization of Nigeria – APON), and Dr. Kikiope Oluwarore (Founder – One Health Development Initiative – OHDI)

Story by: Amb. Joseph Odika.
Ibadan, Nigeria.