EA - Building Effective Altruism in Africa: My Experience Running a University Group by Tim K. Sankara

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: Building Effective Altruism in Africa: My Experience Running a University Group, published by Tim K. Sankara on January 12, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.Welcome to my adventure of creating an effective altruism movement in Africa. My journey started when I started a student organisation. I'll relate my experiences, obstacles I faced, and triumphs I had while establishing EA in Africa in this post, along with how I handled them. I'll also discuss my plans for creating a thriving university community that will have a beneficial, long-lasting impact on this area.I'm Tim, an Information Technology graduate of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. In July this year, I celebrated the successful completion of my undergrad! My varied interests in the EA movement have been documented in brief here.My official EA journey commenced in early 2022 when I joined the introductory program, then later, the in-depth program. However, I had already been engaging with various EA content prior to this, without even knowing that it was closely linked to EA.These sessions introduced me to the EA forum, through which I learned about the University Groups Accelerator Program, which aims to increase support for EA cause areas by providing support to university groups around the globe.The application procedure was simple, and after a few interviews, training sessions, and mentorship meetings, I was finally prepared to launch the Uni group.Running a university group involved a variety of tasks, including but not limited to:Outreach & group growth strategyCurriculum developmentEvent planning (dinners, socials, retreat 1-on-1s)Community healthI'll stick to a few of the semi-distinctive aspects that make founding a university organisation alone, and especially among the first few Uni groups on my continent, something worth writing about and perhaps someone will borrow a leaf from my experience. Although this advise may occasionally be particular or generic, it is hopefully still useful. So here goes.1. The importance of making the group a place where people want to beI recently attended an EA related conference and give a brief talk on my experience and one of the attendees asked me if I had to pick the one thing that made my group successful and I picked: "make the group a fun place to be".I can't insist enough how much this helps to build a sense of community. It is important to provide a variety of activities and experiences that allow members to have fun and make memories together. By creating a place where people want to be, the group can create a strong sense of community and foster a culture of collaboration, creativity, and progress.Some activities that worked for us included:Having some unique ice-breakers before each session like this one here.Finding a conducive space where the fellows can be away from distractions and can just relax and unwind with free pizza and soft drinks.Holding a game-night. I asked around for some games that may be fun among my group and settled on a few board games, a quiz night of sorts as well as some digital games too.But apart from the fun activities, the group was a place where intellectually stimulating discussions could be had and meaningful connections could be made. We sought to create an atmosphere of respect, inclusiveness and collaboration, which allowed for people to learn from each other, share ideas and grow. This was an essential part of making the group a place where people not only wanted to be, but wanted to stay and contribute.2. Watch for community healthIn order to make the group inviting and engaging, it is important to create a safe space where people can express their thoughts and ideas without fear of judgment. This can be achieved by having a code of conduct, providing resources and supp...