The Nonlinear Library EA - Reflections on Bottlenecks Facing Potential African EAs by Zakariyau Yusuf
Nov 22, 2023
08:00
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Reflections on Bottlenecks Facing Potential African EAs, published by Zakariyau Yusuf on November 22, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
TL;DR
Capacity, time, and access have influences on the impact of many EAs in Africa.
Likewise, commitment issues, lack of confidence, and collaboration and openness gaps also play roles in limiting impact.
EA communities can accelerate progress by offering more targeted support.
Disclaimer: I make this post to highlight some of the challenges that I think some African EAs and those interested in the EA approach in the region face. I also propose ways the EA community can help accelerate some of the African EAs' impact. I do not intend to imply that current African EAs are not impactful or are the only ones needing support to accelerate their impact, nor is it meant to refer to any individual African EAs.
This is based on my experience in EA community building in Nigeria and engaging with other EAs in the region. My post is intended to raise awareness in any way that would be useful.
For emphasis, I'm not implying that the challenges I included capture everything or that the proposed ways are exhaustive.
Interests and challenges that I have identified
EA seems to pique the interest of young professionals and students in Nigeria when they first learn about it. This interest could very well be shared by individuals in other African contexts, as I have heard similar sentiments from those I engage with from other regions of Africa. Those curious tend to explore EA further by interacting with local groups (where they can), enrolling in an introductory program (usually EA Virtual Programs or the one organized by the local group where applicable), signing up for an event, or utilizing online resources, such as the forum, to delve deeper into the EA.
Based on my experience in EA community building in Nigeria, I have observed that there is more interest in Effective Altruism from recent graduates/early career professionals, followed by university students and mid-level career professionals. However, I have noticed very little interest from advanced professionals. This pattern may likely be similar in other contexts. The groups that show more interest in EA may do so for any of the following reasons:
Many are still exploring their career options and see EA as a viable approach.
Some are interested in charitable causes and view EA as a way to align with their goals.
Others are looking for opportunities and stumbled upon EA.
Some have found EA to be advocating for the cause area they are already passionate about or interested in.
I have also identified some of the problems that I think are preventing some of the individuals from making headway:
Commitment and Disorganization: I experienced situations in which recent graduates looking to use their career to make a more positive difference could not commit to learning more about some of the top problems or even properly engage in career planning to enable them to figure out their abilities and top problem that they could effectively contribute to.
I think this commitment issue correlates with disorganization in this context, and this is actually one of the key concerns I repeatedly see in our community in Nigeria. I believe it has a lot of implications for making progress and how impactful one could be. I tried to get a sense of this problem, and in some of the surveys or interactive sessions, time issues were flagged as some of the reasons, as some are actively engaging in other day's work; other reasons cited are internet access related or visa for in-person training or program abroad.
Lack of confidence and collaboration: Some of the individuals in the community feel less confident and that it would be hard to make headway tackling big problems at their stage; they think that engaging in su...
TL;DR
Capacity, time, and access have influences on the impact of many EAs in Africa.
Likewise, commitment issues, lack of confidence, and collaboration and openness gaps also play roles in limiting impact.
EA communities can accelerate progress by offering more targeted support.
Disclaimer: I make this post to highlight some of the challenges that I think some African EAs and those interested in the EA approach in the region face. I also propose ways the EA community can help accelerate some of the African EAs' impact. I do not intend to imply that current African EAs are not impactful or are the only ones needing support to accelerate their impact, nor is it meant to refer to any individual African EAs.
This is based on my experience in EA community building in Nigeria and engaging with other EAs in the region. My post is intended to raise awareness in any way that would be useful.
For emphasis, I'm not implying that the challenges I included capture everything or that the proposed ways are exhaustive.
Interests and challenges that I have identified
EA seems to pique the interest of young professionals and students in Nigeria when they first learn about it. This interest could very well be shared by individuals in other African contexts, as I have heard similar sentiments from those I engage with from other regions of Africa. Those curious tend to explore EA further by interacting with local groups (where they can), enrolling in an introductory program (usually EA Virtual Programs or the one organized by the local group where applicable), signing up for an event, or utilizing online resources, such as the forum, to delve deeper into the EA.
Based on my experience in EA community building in Nigeria, I have observed that there is more interest in Effective Altruism from recent graduates/early career professionals, followed by university students and mid-level career professionals. However, I have noticed very little interest from advanced professionals. This pattern may likely be similar in other contexts. The groups that show more interest in EA may do so for any of the following reasons:
Many are still exploring their career options and see EA as a viable approach.
Some are interested in charitable causes and view EA as a way to align with their goals.
Others are looking for opportunities and stumbled upon EA.
Some have found EA to be advocating for the cause area they are already passionate about or interested in.
I have also identified some of the problems that I think are preventing some of the individuals from making headway:
Commitment and Disorganization: I experienced situations in which recent graduates looking to use their career to make a more positive difference could not commit to learning more about some of the top problems or even properly engage in career planning to enable them to figure out their abilities and top problem that they could effectively contribute to.
I think this commitment issue correlates with disorganization in this context, and this is actually one of the key concerns I repeatedly see in our community in Nigeria. I believe it has a lot of implications for making progress and how impactful one could be. I tried to get a sense of this problem, and in some of the surveys or interactive sessions, time issues were flagged as some of the reasons, as some are actively engaging in other day's work; other reasons cited are internet access related or visa for in-person training or program abroad.
Lack of confidence and collaboration: Some of the individuals in the community feel less confident and that it would be hard to make headway tackling big problems at their stage; they think that engaging in su...