Project summary

This project aims to improve understanding, structure, and capacity of the individuals in Nigeria in doing the most good, by supporting them to make an impact. We will do that by organizing introductory fellowship programs, retreat , career planning , mentorship, and network pairing. We will also maintain an accessible opportunity board tailored to our community members, share newsletters, and organize regular knowledge exchange calls to realize our vision and mission.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Our project is aimed at enhancing the infrastructure, engagement, and growth  of our community in Nigeria with the following actions and steps:

a. Improving Infrastructure and Capacity:

1. Through our career planning session, we will improve the  capacity of our engaged community members by equipping them with resources and understanding to enable them to  plan and have a high impact career.

2. Our  introductory fellowship program aimed at increasing the understanding of effective altruism principles especially among newly recruited persons. We will achieve this through our experienced facilitators who are Intro fellowship graduates and have deep understanding of EA and  by increasing our recruitment range to reach our target audience. Our plan for 2024 is to conduct two rounds of the introductory fellowship program graduating at least twenty(20) participants; we have already completed the first cohort in April 2024, graduating (9). 

3. Through our Community Ask Initiative (Accelerator Program), we aim to enhance collaboration and accelerate individuals’ efforts by enabling our community to share resources, thoughts and seek for such support within themselves. 

b.  Enhancing Engagement and Retention:

We recognize the importance of fostering a strong sense of community among our members. To achieve this, we will:

1.  Facilitate regular knowledge-sharing calls (Community Insight calls) and personalized one on one guidance sessions with experienced or resourceful persons. These sessions provide valuable opportunities for members to connect, exchange ideas, receive support and have a sense of community

2. Updating our opportunity board weekly with relevant opportunities tailored to our members and sending out  bi-monthly newsletters highlighting upcoming events, initiatives, and opportunities within the EA community.

3. Through our annual community retreat, we aim to create a space for meaningful interactions, knowledge exchange, a sense of community and collective problem-solving.

IMPACT

The successful execution of these strategies will have a transformative impact on both the EA community in Nigeria and the world at large by:  

1. By having individuals who are solving pressing world problems through various projects and initiatives or exploring ways to do so. 

2. Amplifying the reach and influence of EA principles, both locally and globally,causing more EA value aligned practice.   

3. Inspiring members to have EA aligned careers, working with similar organizations to make an impact. 

MEASUREMENT OF SUCCESS:

The following metrics will allow us to understand that our project is making an impact.  

1. The number of the community members pursuing impactful careers.

2. The number of community members pursuing effective and impactful projects.

3. The number of  community members making impactful giving.

4. Community growth and EA Inclination. 

5. Feedback from our various programs/initiatives by community members

Here is our strategy document, highlighting high level steps that will enable our project to have an impact, it also included our measurement and evaluation plan: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NmyZJZRLwUqrQxaXPN9LRdt_jLIknn5u/view

How will this funding be used?

This funding would be use to pay for the organizers' time broken down here : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZafwFv_b_qB2MIOaISbwOjF9GDjXlIX8-y30nNxV2ng/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Team Members:
1. Daniel Elabi - Co-director (Operations)
2. Chidi Odinanwa - Co-director (Program)
3. Adebayo Mubarak - Fellowship Coordinator
4. Motiloluwa Abiola - Community Associate
5. Folajomi Amao - Volunteer
6. Khadija Sabiu - Volunteer

EA Nigeria has been successfully executing projects since 2020, growing the community in Nigeria and improving its  infrastructure. Our key successes from the previous year (2023) include: 

 1. Organizing three (3) rounds of the introductory fellowship program, graduating 28 participants, equipping them with the foundational knowledge of effective altruism. This program has received positive feedback from participants, with many expressing appreciation for the depth of understanding gained with 93%  likely to recommend to others

 2. We have conducted four (4) rounds of skill-building workshops, focusing on various aspects of effective altruism; impactful research, and career planning. These workshops have been well-received, leading to more tailored focus research and career planning by participants who were made up of students, graduates and professionals. Among many others who have been impacted by these workshops, we currently have Alimi Salifou who is working on a project focused on “Future Generations”. He was also recently in Wales to present a paper on the same topic which is focused on applying the principles of longtermism to preserve future generations.  

3. We organized a  community retreat in 2023 which held for 3 days, attracted 28 enthusiastic participants from different parts of Nigeria, fostering engagement and knowledge exchange. Feedback from attendees indicates a high level of satisfaction and a strong likelihood to recommend the retreat to others.

4. We started an opportunity  board on EA Nigeria website and distribution of the bi-monthly newsletter which has provided valuable resources and updates to our community, enhancing engagement and awareness of opportunities within the effective altruism community.

 5.  Our outreach efforts, including community insight calls and personalized guidance sessions, have facilitated networking and collaboration among community members, leading to increased awareness and informed decision-making.

6. Some of our community members have gone ahead to start EA university groups in 4 different states in Nigeria, namely:

1. Enugu state (University of Nigeria, Nsukka)

2. Kano state ( Ado Bayero University)

3. Lagos state (University of Lagos)

4. Kaduna state ( Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria), which is currently in the planning and nurturing phase as the organizer is participating in the current cohort of the Organizer Support Program (OSP) by CEA University Groups.

Here is our 2023 in review, with more detailed on our progress and learning: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/y5vrPL4XRkmEhet5F/ea-nigeria-reflecting-on-2023-and-looking-ahead-to-2024-1

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

A likely outcome may be that we not get funding, however, we will still go ahead with our operations, but lack of funding to cover our time will definitely have an impact on what we can achieve. I believe that stipends will motivate team members to give their best.

What other funding are you or your project getting?

None