What is Power for Democracies (P4Dem)?

We are a nonpartisan research organization that evaluates civil society organizations (CSOs); makes recommendations to impact-oriented donors; and produces analysis to help democracy researchers and practitioners improve their understanding of which pro-democracy tactics work and under what conditions.

I've been Research Director at P4Dem for the past year. This post is a reflection on our first major project, what I think we got right, and where we can do better.

Our premise is that structured prioritization and transparent evaluation can improve funding decisions in complex, low-evidence domains, like democracy. A key focus for us is developing better ways to assess whether that premise holds over time.

What We Did: ECAPB Project in Brief

Our first project — Effectively Countering Authoritarian Playbooks (ECAPB) — aimed to produce donor recommendations for the founding members of our donor network.

The tactic involves four completed stages and a yet-to-be-completed impact evaluation stage. We started by running two parallel workstreams: prioritizing countries and prioritizing tactics.

Country prioritization used a framework built around four dimensions — Importance, Threat, Tractability, and Opportunity. We combined quantitative data from sources like V-Dem, Civicus, and the World Bank with qualitative country [...]

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Outline:

(00:11) What is Power for Democracies (P4Dem)?

(01:01) What We Did: ECAPB Project in Brief

(03:57) Three Things I Was Asked at EAG SF

(04:18) 1. Can we say anything with certainty about what works to counter authoritarianism?

(05:53) 2. Given limited evidence, is rigorous prioritization still worth doing?

(07:15) 3. Is deep evaluation useful for something as fast-moving as resisting authoritarianism?

(08:42) Whats Next

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First published:

February 23rd, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/Xgya2Ld5teqciqRgi/what-i-learned-trying-to-find-the-most-effective-democracy

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Context: Effective Mental Health is a new group working to improve the field of global mental health along EA principles (and we're running another round of our Global Mental Health Fellowship, see info / apply here!).

Here, we outline the quick & basic case for why field-building work in effective global mental health seems especially cost-effective.

Huge Disease Burden and Neglect

Mental, neurological, and substance-use disorders account for 12% of the global burden of disease when measured in DALYs, yet mental healthcare accounted for just 2.4% of global healthcare spending in 2016. Treatment gaps are massive; most people with mental illness do not receive treatment (only 22% of people with mental illness in high-income countries, and as little as 4% of those in low-income countries, receive treatment).

Cost-Effectiveness 

Promising mental health interventions are cost-effective in both low- and high-income countries. The Happier Lives Institute's investigations into intervention cost-effectiveness find that some mental health interventions are over 5x more effective than GiveDirectly's cash transfers:

Many proven, evidence-based interventions already exist, but are bottlenecked by lack of prioritization, funding, and implementation.

We also expect that there will also be important “paradigm shifts” and approaches (e.g. new substance based [...]

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Outline:

(00:37) Huge Disease Burden and Neglect

(01:08) Cost-Effectiveness

(02:09) New Counterfactual Funding Pools

(02:49) Moral and Epistemic Robustness

(03:41) Note on EA Community Support for Mental Health as a Cause Area

(04:31) Conclusion

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First published:

February 22nd, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/eatpXeJJBweaF92XB/mental-health-large-neglected-and-more-cost-effective-than

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Post drafted and edited by the author. Claude and Grammarly were used for a light copyedit

As AI tools become increasingly useful for communicating research, opinions, or simply sharing ideas, it is becoming important to proactively disclose their use when we communicate with others. Being transparent demands AI-use disclosure. Organizations that communicate externally should embed strong AI-disclosure norms, and so should the forum. If you use AI tools for interpersonal communication, disclose their use in conversation.

The ability of LLMs to draft, re-draft, code, and analyse has been wonderful to see. As a researcher at AIM (views my own), I am certainly using AI tools in my work and exploring the domains in which they may make me more (and less) effective.

I personally enjoy writing, so I doubt I will ever use LLMs for extensive drafting. However, producing "content" (read: anything from a tweet to a book) is becoming increasingly cheaper. Lower barriers are leading to a steady increase in production. AI use speeds up research. Alarmingly, it also makes it easy to produce research that looks legit, but is, to all intents and purposes, slop.

Interpersonal communications can also become stilted, creating an underlying unease that [...]

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First published:

February 22nd, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/nFsinyn5TowPQz6oi/reasoning-transparency-demands-ai-use-disclosure

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

There was a dream that was sports blogging for impact, and it wasn’t built in a day

Not everything should be a rocketship

Mikel Arteta was appointed Arsenal manager in 2019. Before Covid. Before Biden was too old. Before I’d heard of effective altruism, or thought about the tradeoff between a Bayesian approach to impact-maximizing career choices and the organizational stability required to take our best shot at solving the world's most pressing problems.

A disciple of Pep Guardiola, the preeminent soccerball visionary of our era, Arteta arrived with a short CV and Big Ideas. His first season, Arsenal finished 8th in the Premier League, and despite the reservoir of goodwill earned in his former incarnation as player and captain, some fans already wanted him out. Second season, 8th again, he and his patrons mocked as frauds. The owners continued to trust The Process - it would take time to replace a squad ageing ungracefully with younger players more suited to Mikel's methods, time to coach them into the cohesive unit he believed they could be, more time still to iterate his methods in response to real-world feedback - but third season and it's progress only so far as [...]

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Outline:

(00:15) Not everything should be a rocketship

(03:58) Real ones would never

(07:48) Afterward

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First published:

February 22nd, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/hwzmiqfHuTENtTT52/ea-adjacent-but-not-like-that

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Over the past several years I’ve worked with 258 EA organisations through User-Friendly, most often on branding, websites, and campaigns. Working across this many organisations has given me a fairly wide view of how marketing is currently understood and used within the EA ecosystem. The contexts vary, but the underlying patterns are surprisingly consistent, regardless of cause area, size, or geography.

This post is a reflection on those recurring patterns. It is not intended as criticism, and it is not written from an outsider perspective. It comes from years of being embedded in projects, seeing what organisations request, where projects get stuck, and what tends to make the biggest difference when it is addressed early.

My aim is simply to share practical observations that might help EA organisations use marketing more deliberately, earlier in the process, and in ways that better support their strategic objectives rather than just their communications outputs.

A simple checklist I wish more organisations completed before scaling

If I could encourage every EA organisation to do ten things early, it would be these:

1. Build a market segmentation grounded in real audience data
2. Define a clear positioning statement (one sentence, not paragraphs)
3. Map a full [...]

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Outline:

(01:13) A simple checklist I wish more organisations completed before scaling

(02:21) Why Im sharing this

(03:07) 1. EA organisations are not exempt from basic (human) marketing realities

(03:49) 2. Marketing is usually brought in far too late

(04:45) 3. Branding and websites are visible, but strategy is the leverage

(05:28) 4. There is a heavy over-focus on digital ads

(06:24) 5. Marketing is often siloed into narrow roles

(07:03) 6. AI tools are starting to replace strategic thinking (prematurely)

(07:55) 7. Naming and positioning are consistently undervalued

(08:32) 8. Pretty design is often prioritised over effective communication

(09:04) 9. Marketing budgets are rarely tied to objectives

(10:14) 10. Long-term awareness building is the biggest missed opportunity

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First published:

February 21st, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/faS8gH7CcLkKHSQp4/what-i-ve-learnt-after-working-with-258-ea-organisations-on

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

New paper on plant-based diets for companion dogs and cats: Sustainable Pet Diets: A Leading Effective Altruism Issue.

The paper argues that transitioning companion dogs and cats to plant-based diets is:

1. Important – a full global transition would apparently spare around 7 billion land animals each year (and reduce environmental harm, and improve food security).
2. Tractable – 13 to 19% of guardians are open to plant-based diets for their dogs/cats if their concerns are addressed, according to two recent surveys.
3. Neglected – annual global funding for tranisitioning companion animals to plant-based diets is well below $1m.

If the numbers hold up, the case seems strong! But I'm curious about the counterfactual impact of transitioning companion cats and dogs to plant-based diets, especially given that humans wouldn't eat or use some of the animal-derived food that companion animals are fed. What do people think about that, and how do the numbers and arguments look in general?

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First published:

February 19th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/aQzD87AErAvhEdQqi/is-ea-sleeping-on-making-dogs-and-cats-vegan

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Hi everyone, Zershaaneh here!

80,000 Hours has published an article on using AI to improve societal decision making.

This post includes some context, the summary from the article, and the table of contents with links to each section.

Context

This is meant to be a medium-depth, introductory resource for understanding how AI tools could be used to enhance societal decision making — and why speeding up their development and adoption could make a huge difference to how the future unfolds.

It covers:

• The kinds of tools we think are especially promising, and the opportunity we might have to differentially speed up their development and adoption.
• The possible pitfalls of trying to advance AI decision making tools — like the chance the tools you work on would have already been built by default, and the risk of inadvertently speeding up more dangerous AI capabilities.
• Our all-things-considered take on how much we recommend working in this area — and what sort of person would be a good fit. (Right now, we’d be excited to see hundreds more people taking this path, but we don’t think it's a good option for everyone.)
• Lots of options for getting involved — including roles that don’t [...]

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Outline:

(00:28) Context

(01:34) Why are we posting this here?

(02:05) Summary (from the article)

(03:14) Overall view - Sometimes recommended.

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First published:

February 20th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/659FtQYTESH2ec9Dt/80-000-hours-problem-profile-on-using-ai-to-enhance-societal

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Digital minds may become one of the most consequential issues of the future — and the world needs people prepared to navigate it. We're launching the Digital Minds Fellowship, a fully funded week-long program at Cambridge for 15 participants looking to build careers in digital minds/AI welfare. Applications open now, deadline March 27.

Why this fellowship?

Unlike more established fields such as AI safety and governance, the digital minds field is still nascent. Identifying promising research questions is harder, career paths are less clear, and the community is smaller.

Program structure

The fellowship runs August 3–9, 2026 at Jesus College, Cambridge, and has three modules:

• Philosophical & Technical Foundations (2 days, led by Derek Shiller, Rethink Priorities) — covering LLM architectures, philosophical frameworks for consciousness and moral status, and what current systems might (and might not) imply for cognition and experience.
• Societal Implications & Strategy (2 days, led by me) — scenario planning, intervention design, policy frameworks, public communication, and stakeholder engagement.
• Project Scoping & Career Planning (1 day) — developing well-scoped project ideas and concrete next steps, supported by leading experts.

Fellows are paired with a mentor before the program and will also be invited to [...]

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First published:

February 19th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/NRdWZKqGyNpsXRQfJ/apply-for-the-digital-minds-fellowship-aug-3-9-cambridge

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

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Hello!

I’ve recently been working on a memoir of my time in EA (Harri Besceli and the non methods of post-rationality).

However, AI timelines have led me to conclude that everything I had previously planned on doing over the course of the coming months or years, must now be completed as soon as possible, ideally by the end of the weekend.

Given that, I’m sharing the quick version now, and hope to complete the full version in the fullness of time. Here's my story in brief:

Proto EA

• As a child and teenager I was fairly smart and ‘successful’, I did well academically, had prestigious accolades and so on. 
• I had various heroic fantasies about my future, often imagining myself as James Bond. These fantasies became less common and less combat oriented as I got older, though I still had a sense that I was in some way destined to do important things and or save the world.  
• I was very into self-improvement, pop psychology and books kind of related to new atheism. 
• I often had a sense of intellectual and philosophical isolation. I wasn’t exactly lonely, though I also didn’t feel met by others [...]

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Outline:

(00:39) Proto EA

(01:24) Promising EA

(01:48) Professional EA

(03:00) Post EA

(04:05) Apotheosis EA Post Post EA

(04:48) Commentary

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First published:

February 19th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/oPyQ5MFD5GSCtu8LY/my-ea-story-in-brief-plus-some-comments-on-ea

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Hi all,

Do you know high school or college students eager to reduce farmed animal suffering? Applications are now open for the New Roots Institute Fellowship!

The Fellowship equips students with the knowledge, skills, and networks they need to challenge industrial animal agriculture. Students begin with our six-week virtual summer Leadership Academy, and many continue into the Academic Year Fellowship, where they launch and lead high-impact campaigns and can receive a project grant of up to $2,500 throughout the year.

New Roots fellows have driven institutional dining reforms, advanced legislative advocacy, developed and implemented classroom curricula, with the support of our partners organizations. Fellows also receive ongoing career support and have gone on to work in high impact roles across sectors.

If you know ambitious students eager to create real change, we’d love to meet them. We would be grateful if you could:

• Nominate a student(s) who would be a great fit for the Fellowship, and they’ll receive special consideration in the application process
• Share the application with your networks

The priority deadline is February 25, and applications are accepted on a rolling basis until spots are filled.

Let me know if you have [...]

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First published:

February 18th, 2026

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/i6wdsoK68kXB56L9L/applications-open-new-roots-institute-fellowship

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.