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GiveWell Conversations

GiveWell

Welcome to GiveWell’s podcast sharing the latest updates on our work. Tune in for conversations with GiveWell staff members discussing current priorities of our Research team and recent developments in the global health landscape.

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  • 24 episodes
  • fortnightly
  • Avg 37 min
  • English

Episodes 24

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  • #17
    Nov 20, 2025 · 30 min

    Bridging an Uncertain Time for a Lifesaving Program

    Despite significant progress over the past several decades, malaria remains a leading cause of death globally for children under five. This year’s cuts to foreign aid funding disrupted highly effective programs to prevent malaria, such as seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC). SMC provides antimalarial medication to children under the age of five during the rainy season when malaria transmission is highest, reducing their risk of dying from the disease. Malaria Consortium’s SMC program, which is one of the most cost-effective programs our researchers have identified, has been one of GiveWell’s Top Charities since 2016, and we’ve recommended more than $500 million in grants for the program since that time. SMC is only delivered during a specific period each year when malaria transmission is highest. The campaigns require careful planning and preparation on a specified timeline to ensure that the drugs are ready to distribute during that window. The funding freeze that started in January jeopardized 2025 SMC campaigns in several countries because of the disruption to funding for these time-sensitive pre-campaign activities. In this episode, GiveWell CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld speaks with Program Officer Natalie Crispin about how GiveWell responded quickly and flexibly to ensure that SMC campaigns moved forward this year. Elie and Natalie discuss: Planning for SMC campaigns: Prior to carrying out SMC campaigns, implementing organizations engage in an intensive and time-sensitive planning process to ensure that drug distributors are fully trained, the right quantity of preventive drugs is shipped to each community, and people are informed about upcoming campaigns. GiveWell’s response to keep SMC campaigns on track: GiveWell considered funding for SMC in 11 countries where it had been funded by the US government, talked with stakeholders in 10, and ultimately provided funding guarantees for SMC planning activities in six countries. These grants ensured funding for pre-campaign activities if US government funds didn’t return—enabling implementing organizations to move forward with timely preparations while their funding was uncertain. Challenges, reflections, and lessons learned: While the work required for us to decide whether, when, and how to provide funding was more time-consuming than many of our grants, it strengthened our networks among SMC implementers and funders, and we believe our funding guarantees made a difference in ensuring that the campaigns were able to be carried out. GiveWell has a long history of finding and funding highly cost-effective malaria programs. Our prior work on SMC enabled us to move quickly to protect lifesaving programs and keep campaigns on track until US government funding was restored. Visit our Foreign Aid Funding Cuts webpage to learn more about our response and how you can help, and listen or subscribe to our podcast for our latest updates. This episode was recorded on November 17, 2025 and represents our best understanding at that time.

    • Transcript
  • #16
    Oct 30, 2025 · 32 min

    Beyond the Spreadsheets: Malawi Site Visit Days 5 and 6

    Our Beyond the Spreadsheets mini-series lets you ride along with our leadership team on their recent weeklong site visit to Malawi. Recorded daily during the trip, the series shares the behind-the-scenes experience of a GiveWell site visit through real-time reflections and clips of conversations. On day five, the GiveWell team visited a school in Lilongwe, where they spoke with school representatives and families of students in a nearby urban settlement. On day six, the GiveWell team stopped at a major hospital in Lilongwe to hear from hospital staff and an implementing partner about the impact of foreign aid funding cuts. New to the series? Start with day one here. Throughout the week, the team visited health clinics, schools, and local villages to speak with healthcare workers and community members who shared a glimpse into their lives. This mini-series offers a candid, day-by-day account of our learning process and some of the new insights and questions that will inform our future research. This episode was recorded on August 3 and 4, 2025 during GiveWell's site visit to Malawi and represents our best understanding at that time.

    • Transcript
  • #15
    Oct 16, 2025 · 23 min

    Beyond the Spreadsheets: Malawi Site Visit Day 4

    Our Beyond the Spreadsheets mini-series lets you ride along with our leadership team on their recent weeklong site visit to Malawi. Recorded daily during the trip, the series shares the behind-the-scenes experience of a GiveWell site visit through real-time reflections and clips of conversations. On day four, the GiveWell team visited community projects funded by Spark Microgrants, including a maize mill and a sunflower oil mill, and spoke with residents about their impact. New to the series? Start with day one here. Throughout the week, the team visited health clinics, schools, and local villages to speak with healthcare workers and community members who shared a glimpse into their lives. This new mini-series offers a candid, day-by-day account of our learning process and some of the new insights and questions that will inform our future research. We invite you to listen, subscribe, and follow along! This episode was recorded on August 2, 2025 during GiveWell's site visit to Malawi and represents our best understanding at that time.

    • Transcript
  • #14
    Oct 9, 2025 · 24 min

    Beyond the Spreadsheets: Malawi Site Visit Day 3

    Our Beyond the Spreadsheets mini-series lets you ride along with our leadership team on their recent weeklong site visit to Malawi. Recorded daily during the trip, the series shares the behind-the-scenes experience of a GiveWell site visit through real-time reflections and clips of conversations. On day three, the GiveWell team visited a rural health outpost where they met with health care workers to discuss the services they provide through village clinics and home visits—and the impact of foreign aid cuts on their work. Listen to day one and day two of the series here. Throughout the week, the team visited health clinics, schools, and local villages to speak with healthcare workers and community members who shared a glimpse into their lives. This new mini-series offers a candid, day-by-day account of our learning process and some of the new insights and questions that will inform our future research. We invite you to listen, subscribe, and follow along! This episode was recorded on August 1, 2025 during GiveWell's site visit to Malawi and represents our best understanding at that time.

    • Transcript
Showing 21–24 of 24 episodes