EA - Researching Priorities in Local Contexts by LuisMota

Link to original articleWelcome 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: Researching Priorities in Local Contexts, published by LuisMota on March 18, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.SummaryThis post explores two ways in which EAs can adapt priorities to local contexts they face:Trying to do the most good at a global level, given specific local resources.Trying to do the most good at a local level.I argue that the best framing for EAs to use is the first of these. I also explore when doing good at the local level might be the best way to do the most good from a global perspective, and suggest a way to explore this possibility in practice.IntroductionEffective Altruism is a global movement that aims to use resources as effectively as possible with the purpose of doing good. Members of this global community face different realities and challenges, which means that there is no one-size-fits-all path to making the world a better place. This requires local groups to adapt EA research and advice to their specific contexts.Currently, there is limited guidance on how to do this, and many approaches have been adopted. Research done with this purpose is known as local priorities research, and includes projects like local charity evaluation and local career advice. However, the exact goal of such an adaptation process has often been unclear, in a way that can come at the cost of doing the most good from a global perspective.This post seeks to improve the local group prioritization framework. I break down the current usage of local priorities research into two different approaches: one seeks to do the most good impartially in light of the local context, and the other aims to do the most good for the local region. I make the case that EA groups should focus on the first approach, and discuss various ways in which this could influence local group prioritization research.Existing concepts in priorities researchTo begin, it's useful to start this discussion with the definition of global priorities research (GPR). The definition I'll use throughout this post is the following, adapted from the definition of the term used by the Global Priorities Institute:Global Priorities Research is research that informs use of resources, seeking to do as much good as possible.“Resources” here includes things like talent, money, and social connections. The agents who have these resources can also vary; ranging from individuals trying to decide what to do with their careers, organizations defining which projects to work on, or community builders trying to figure out what the best directions for their group are.On the other hand, local priorities research (LPR) is the term frequently used to refer to research aimed at adapting priorities to local situations. The essential idea behind this concept is that, as one post puts it, it is “quite similar [to GPR], except that it’s narrowed down to a certain country”. That post defines it as follows.While GPR is about figuring out what are the most important global problems to work on, LPR is about figuring out what are the most important problems in a local context that can best maximise impact both locally and globally.This term is used to describe many research activities, including:Local cause area prioritizationCharity evaluationHigh-impact local career pathway researchGiving and philanthropy landscape researchSome examples of projects within local priorities research include EA Singapore's cause prioritization report, which identifies AI safety and alternative proteins as Singapore's comparative advantages; the Brazilian charity Doebem, which aims to identify the best health and development charities in Brazil; and EA Philippines's cause prioritization report, which identifies 11 potential focus areas for work in the country, ranging from poverty alleviation in the Philippines to building the EA movem...