EA Forum Podcast (All audio)

ACTRA (Acción Transformadora), incubated through the AIM Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program, has just completed a strong first year — showing both traction and potential for impact. Said potential has led to the Happier Lives Institute awarding ACTRA an Honorable Mention for promising cost-effectiveness at scale.

In this post, we will briefly outline our first year's traction, future plans, and the current opportunity to fund ACTRA. For a more thorough introduction into Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-informed approaches to prevent crime, ACTRA's Theory of Change and the evidence supporting it, you may also consult our recently updated brochure.

Executive Summary

ACTRA's goal is to adapt and scale a cost-effective, evidence-based crime prevention program based on Cognitive Behavioral Training (CBT) to the Latin American context. We aim to do this by partnering with governments and training local organizations to integrate CBT into their programs and deliver it sustainably.

Our early results are encouraging. Across cycles, we have demonstrated strong facilitator and participant attendance and satisfaction. After refining our curriculum, we started to also observe positive before-after changes in participants’ key psychological skills — such as emotional regulation and conflict resolution skills. By December, we will finalize our second in-house pilot Randomized Control Trial [...]

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Outline:

(01:07) Executive Summary

(02:29) Why It Matters

(04:18) Strong Progress in Just One Year

(06:00) Evidence and Learning Strategy

(06:11) 1. Implementation at Scale

(07:47) 2. Learning Under Ideal Conditions

(09:20) 2026. Plans: Evidence, Partnerships, Scale

(10:36) Funding Need

(11:03) Why Support ACTRA Now?

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First published:

November 17th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/XHM8RHzYtaj3pX5fb/actra-a-promising-crime-prevention-intervention-at-a-crucial

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TL;DR:

• Faunalytics has an organizational funding gap of $370,000 for our 2025 budget.
• This funding is critical for our organizational stability, covering all remaining 2025 activities (including approximately $60k in final research projects) and addressing a shortfall in high-impact research already delivered this year.
• Securing this "Stability Gap" is the prerequisite for launching our 2026-2030 Strategic Plan.
• Funding beyond this gap will be directed to our “Growth Gap”: conducting new original research projects. 
• Donate on the Faunalytics website here.

About Faunalytics

For over 25 years, Faunalytics’ mission has been to empower animal advocates with research, insights, and strategies that maximize their effectiveness to end animal suffering. We enable evidence-based advocacy through three main program areas:

• Original Research: Faunalytics now conducts 10 to 12 original research studies each year that are likely to have a high impact on animals. We identify our research projects through a multi-stage prioritization process, which includes gathering input from advocates and topic experts to identify knowledge gaps and conducting assessments to verify the potential impact.
• Research Library: We host the world's largest open-access collection of animal advocacy research. By curating 6,000+ research summaries, blogs, report translations for impactful regions, and visualizations such as infographics and videos, we ensure that advocates [...]

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First published:

November 17th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/WjDeAYKBrzGNydJTT/faunalytics-funding-gap-of-usd370-000

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To a first approximation, all farmed animals are bugs. (Recalling, of course, that shrimps is bugs.) We don’t know much about their needs in current production systems. The Arthropoda Foundation is trying to fix that. If we want to help the most numerous farmed animals, we have to answer some basic empirical questions. Arthropoda funds the scientists who provide those answers.

Good science isn’t cheap, fast, or flashy. But if we don’t fund it, we’re left guessing about the welfare of the most numerous animals on farms (and in the wild). The stakes are too high for guesswork.

This year, Arthropoda granted out ~$160K to fund seven studies. That's seven studies for at least a trillion farmed animals. (And untold numbers of wild animals.)

We could easily grant out much more. And with a staff person, we could actively develop projects to support. But as it is, we’re at capacity.

In its current form, Arthropoda costs about $175K per year, at least 80% of which covers grants. The rest covers costs associated with learning more about the state of the industry, running a small coordination event, and legal compliance with charitable regulations. We’re about $55K short for 2026.

Anything [...]

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First published:

November 17th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mdcSeMwkBEYhdTAWF/to-a-first-approximation-all-farmed-animals-are-bugs

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Every dollar donated to One Acre Fund will be matched 1:1 by The Life You Can Save.[1] To learn more about this ongoing campaign, visit https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/one-acre-fund-match/.

What is One Acre Fund? Why Support Smallholder Farmers?

According to the World Bank, half of the global extreme poor live in rural sub-Saharan Africa.[2] In these areas, where farming is the main livelihood, smallholders experience low yields and are exceptionally vulnerable to food insecurity. In fact, agricultural yields in sub-Saharan Africa have stagnated for decades compared to other regions.[3]

One Acre Fund is Africa's largest nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to improving the harvests, incomes, and resilience of smallholder farmers. Our two key levers are our core bundle and partnerships programs. Through our core model, we provide essential services farmers need to increase harvests, including high-quality farm inputs on credit delivered close to home, agricultural training, and market facilitation. We treat farmers as customers, and this core model, validated by rigorous measurement, drives an average 35-40% increase in farmer profits alongside gains in nutrition and soil health.

Through our large-scale operational partnerships, we invest in programs with strong farmer revenue potential. These include agroforestry, market access, and input production. In 2024 [...]

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First published:

November 17th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/GNa9PLuqnjpFgW5E4/ending-hunger-for-millions-of-african-smallholder-farmers

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

In the spirit of “Marginal Funding Week” for the 2025 Giving Season on the EA Forum, we’d like to share with you The Humane League UK's (THL UK's) need for additional funding, what we would do with it, and how you can have a real impact on reducing the suffering of animals raised for food.

We’re currently seeking funding for our 2025 match giving appeal. We’re hoping to raise a total of £100,000 to help us achieve our goals and continue fighting for animals long into the future.

Structure of the post:

1. Our situation
2. How we would use extra funding
3. Our match giving appeal
4. Why give to THL UK
5. Conclusion

Our situation

We’re facing a funding gap of £290k this financial year (April 2025-March 2026). We also continue to seek long-term funding to continue our work and give us greater financial stability.

We currently receive an annual grant from The Humane League (THL) in the US, which we continue to reduce as part of our long-term plan towards greater financial self-reliance. The next financial year will be the first time that our directly fundraised income is set to surpass our grant from THL, bringing with [...]

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Outline:

(01:03) Our situation

(02:43) How we would use extra funding

(02:47) We're holding corporates accountable:

(05:52) Our 2025 match giving appeal

(08:23) Why give to THL UK

(10:56) Conclusion

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First published:

November 17th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mPcsjbKobYmt3AKfJ/we-need-to-hold-corporates-accountable-here-s-how-thl-uk

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TL;DR

• Respira Health are seeking $84k to pilot and begin scaling a virtual treatment program for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease*, the second leading cause of death in India and fourth globally (3.5 million annual deaths).
• Our treatment isn’t new, but our delivery model is. Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) can cut mortality risk by 9% in just 3 sessions and is a well-evidenced treatment programme for COPD; it combines specialised physiotherapy exercises, education on health habits, and psychological support. PR delivered virtually in high-income countries has been shown to be just as effective as in person, but this is yet to be rolled out in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where 90% of deaths occur. We are changing this by delivering PR in India using a WhatsApp chatbot and virtual physiotherapists (think Kaya Guides for respiratory rather than mental health!).
• We’ve already tested our WhatsApp chatbot approach in India. After thorough research and 30 hours of interviews with patients and healthcare professionals in India, we ran our first proof of concept test: we launched a short education program on the main symptom of COPD, breathlessness, using a WhatsApp chatbot. With hospital referrals and Facebook ads, over 140 breathless individuals in our target demographic signed up, demonstrating [...]

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First published:

November 16th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/D59GPfsNWHDayPe2c/piloting-a-digital-treatment-for-copd-the-second-biggest

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TL;DR

Who we are: NOVAH (No Violence At Home) launched in 2024 via Ambitious Impact/ Charity Entrepreneurship. We pioneer large-scale prevention of domestic violence through mass media.

What we do: We produce radio drama edutainment—stories that emotionally engage listeners and change beliefs and behaviours more effectively than traditional education. Our programmes help listeners (mainly men) share decisions more equally, reduce harmful alcohol use, and better communicate at home. These changes together lead to a reduction in domestic violence.

Why we do it: Over 230 million women experience intimate partner violence each year. In East Africa, one in four women is affected annually, resulting in around 18 million DALYs lost, notably to injury, depression, and HIV/AIDS.

Evidence base: Peterman (2025) finds that 60 percent of edutainment studies reduce domestic violence (featured on the VoxDev podcast). This approach (similar to the work of e.g.DMI, PMC, and FEM) is endorsed by IPA, Founders Pledge, the Global Innovation Fund, and the Prevention Collaborative.

Traction: Our first series in Rwanda Twubakane, reached about 30,000 listeners (about seven percent of adults in the broadcast area) and showed promising reductions in violence. In particular, a baseline-endline pilot study with 200 couples (including a control group) [...]

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Outline:

(00:14) TL;DR

(03:08) About NOVAH

(03:56) What we do

(04:34) Why this matters

(05:27) Results to date

(06:53) Cost effectiveness

(07:32) Plans for 2026: scaling and regional expansion

(08:42) How marginal funding accelerates our work

(09:36) Why your support matters

(10:47) How to donate

(11:12) Learn more and get in touch

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First published:

November 17th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/EkQqzmLa8NmnnF7Qx/marginal-funding-to-expand-an-innovative-domestic-violence

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TL;DR: Legal Impact for Chickens (LIC) is a nonprofit law firm fighting factory-farm cruelty. In our four years in existence, LIC has:

• proven in court that animal protection organizations like LIC have the power to enforce California's animal cruelty law against ag companies,
• prompted California's largest poultry producer to announce it has made animal-welfare reforms, and
• stopped a DC butcher shop from selling foie gras.

We’re now fundraising $690,000 to fill our gap for our 2026 planned budget of $2 million.

(That said, the full amount LIC could potentially absorb is uncapped within a reasonable basis. Additional funding would allow us to scale faster by hiring more lawyers and litigating more lawsuits at once. LIC currently has more promising lawsuit ideas than resources to pursue them.)

I. Why sue over animal cruelty?

In the long run, companies and individuals benefit by following the law. But they don’t always see this in the short run.

Experience shows that companies and executives will follow a law if—and only if—someone actually enforces that law.

For instance, animal cruelty and neglect are crimes. Yet a LIC-sponsored investigation caught California's largest poultry producer driving forklifts over birds. This presumably occurred because [...]

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Outline:

(01:12) I. Why sue over animal cruelty?

(01:58) II. What we've accomplished recently

(05:16) III. Short Timelines:

(05:49) IV. Potential criticism: Is there a risk to improving farmed animal welfare?

(08:13) V. LICs funding gap and plans for growth

(09:03) Thank you for considering LIC!

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First published:

November 17th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/XZFnSWCWob5Wfq6yk/the-law-is-on-the-animals-side-legal-impact-for-chickens

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

This post has two parts: first, a (non-exhaustive) survey of some indications that the AI industry might be in a financial bubble. Second, an analysis that combines these indications with technical considerations relevant to whether the AI industry is in a bubble.

Definition of a "bubble"

Here's the Wikipedia definition of a bubble:

An economic bubble (also called a speculative bubble or a financial bubble) is a period when current asset prices greatly exceed their intrinsic valuation, being the valuation that the underlying long-term fundamentals justify. Bubbles can be caused by overly optimistic projections about the scale and sustainability of growth (e.g. dot-com bubble), and/or by the belief that intrinsic valuation is no longer relevant when making an investment (e.g. Tulip mania). They have appeared in most asset classes, including equities (e.g. Roaring Twenties), commodities (e.g. Uranium bubble), real estate (e.g. 2000s US housing bubble), and even esoteric assets (e.g. Cryptocurrency bubble). Bubbles usually form as a result of either excess liquidity in markets, and/or changed investor psychology.

If we were to operationalize the concept of an AI bubble and whether such a bubble has popped, we could look at several financial measures, including investment in datacentre construction. [...]

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Outline:

(00:27) Definition of a bubble

(02:13) Opinions on a potential AI bubble

(10:47) Suggestive evidence: circular financing

(12:16) Direct evidence: small effects on productivity and profitability

(18:51) Analysis: can AI companies catch up to expectations?

(30:05) Conclusion

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First published:

November 16th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/im59y2Au7zC5ofuKe/is-the-ai-industry-in-a-bubble

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Wild animal suffering is vast, neglected, and morally urgent. I’m strongly in favour of building a field that can eventually deliver safe, scalable welfare improvements for free-living animals. I also recognise that this area is technically complex and requires foundational research. But after reading WAI's latest annual report, I simply have to ask:

When does any of this work actually reduce wild animal suffering?

WAI themselves say that ‘it's reasonable to ask whether this will all be worth it’ on p. 28 of their most recent annual report. What then follows is an illustrative case study regarding rabies vaccination, with figures they describe as ‘back of the envelope’ and ‘intentionally crude.’

After 4-5 years and several millions in funding, I can’t find evidence in this report of an intervention, policy change, or measurable welfare improvement driven by WAI's research. What's more concerning is that the report doesn’t spell out a concrete timeline or milestones for when their research is expected to translate into specific welfare interventions or policy changes. Beyond vague phrases like ‘interventions relatively soon’ and a five-year plan to build presence in ecology, there's no clear indication of when wild animals might benefit.

[...]

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First published:

November 14th, 2025

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kizAAxyNkDtwShEJ2/wild-animal-initiative-when-does-research-become-impact

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.