There are a number of ways in which charities fight the causes and effects of extreme poverty. These are our investigations of different interventions carried out in the developing world.
These pages summarise how these interventions work, and the conclusions of our research into their effectiveness. For more information on our methodology, see our page on How We Assess Charities.
So far our research has especially focused on evaluating health-related organisations, because there are comprehensive statistics and data available for assessing their cost-effectiveness, and because our research shows that the most effective aid interventions are likely to be health-focused. However, we also consider many other promising areas, like agricultural research or climate change mitigation.
- Agricultural R&D
- Blindness
- Child Marriage
- Climate change
- Education
- Emergency aid
- Health education
- Health System Strengthening
- HIV/AIDS
- Immunisation
- Malaria
- Maternal mortality
- Medical Research
- Mental Health
- Microfinance
- Micronutrients
- Neglected tropical diseases
- Political change
- Road Traffic Injuries
- Surgery
- Tobacco Control
- Tuberculosis
- Water and sanitation
Sources
We owe a lot to our high quality sources. Our biggest source of information, particularly for determining our charity recommendations, is the US charity evaluator Givewell. Their rigorous research methodology focused on determining the overall good done by programs, combined with a strong commitment to transparency and the resources to investigate charities extremely thoroughly, make them an invaluable resource for determining the best charities to donate to.
- GiveWell — Our biggest source of information, particularly for determining our charity recommendations
- The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab – An excellent source of randomized control trial data on interventions designed to alleviate poverty.
- The Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries Report (DCP2) – This provides cost effectiveness data on a wide range of health interventions in the developing world.
- The World Health Organisation WHO-CHOICE guide – A cost-effectiveness report similar in scope to DCP2.