Effective Altruism Forum
EA Forum

Hide table of contents
by Stephen Ouma
2 min read 2

15

Animal welfareAfricaAnnouncements and updatesCorporate animal welfare campaignsOrganization updates
Frontpage

Utunzi Animal Welfare Organization is a registered animal welfare organization dedicated to protecting farm animals from cruelty in Kenya. Through rigorous research, advocacy, and corporate outreach, we are committed to sparing millions of animals in Kenya from unnecessary suffering. Thanks to your continued support, we’ve made significant strides in raising awareness, educating communities, and advocating for humane farming practices across the country.

We are thrilled to share a summary of our key achievements in 2024:

Corporate Outreach Successes

In 2024, we secured three key cage-free commitments in Kenya, including one from a local bakery and two from a 4-star and 5-star hotel. These commitments mark a significant step forward in improving animal welfare standards within the corporate sector. We continue to work hard in engaging local food companies to secure new cage-free commitment wins.

Empowering Farmers for Cage-Free Systems

Our cage-free awareness initiative has been a tremendous success, with field officers actively engaging poultry farmers across Kenya; reaching over 200 small and medium-scale producers with animal welfare messaging. By educating farmers on ethical and sustainable farming practices, we are driving a vital shift toward more humane systems. With your ongoing support, we can expand this initiative and advocate for stronger policies to phase out battery cages.

Inspiring the Next Generation

University and college students play a crucial role in our advocacy efforts. Through our Students’ Animal Welfare Seminars, we have seen tremendous growth in awareness and commitment to animal welfare at institutions such as Egerton University and Eldoret TTI, collectively reaching over 1000 students with detailed animal welfare education. With your help, we can further expand this initiative to inspire even more young advocates for animal rights.

Nationwide Advocacy: Reaching Broader Audiences

Our cage-free campaign workshops, supported by the Open Wing Alliance (OWA), have brought together farmers, veterinarians, government officials, and corporate stakeholders to map out a path to a cage-free future for Kenya. Additionally, our appearances on radio and TV talk shows have allowed us to reach a wider audience, educating the public on the ethical treatment of animals. We held 2 radio talk shows and 2 TV talk shows in total, in different languages thus reaching thousands.

Advancing Research & Knowledge Sharing

Our newly revamped website enhances transparency and accessibility to vital animal welfare research. The growing resource hub now features over five key publications, helping shape informed policies and promoting best practices in animal welfare.

Your Support Makes It All Possible!

None of this would be possible without YOU—our dedicated donors, partners, and advocates. Every contribution enables us to extend our reach, fund educational programs, and ensure that animal welfare continues to be a priority in Kenya. 

Together, we are creating lasting change. Thank you for standing with us. Please check out our website and social media to learn more about the work we do!

15

1
0
1

Reactions

1
0
1
Comments2


Sorted by
New & upvoted
Click to highlight new comments since:
ASuchy1
0
0

Thanks for sharing this update Stephen, it's been inspiring to see the recent momentum your organisation has had.

Reply
Aurelia Adhiambo1
0
0

Great job! I am very proud of your efforts. Keep shining.

Reply
Curated and popular this week
Paul Present
 ·  · 28m read
 · 
Note: I am not a malaria expert. This is my best-faith attempt at answering a question that was bothering me, but this field is a large and complex field, and I’ve almost certainly misunderstood something somewhere along the way. Summary While the world made incredible progress in reducing malaria cases from 2000 to 2015, the past 10 years have seen malaria cases stop declining and start rising. I investigated potential reasons behind this increase through reading the existing literature and looking at publicly available data, and I identified three key factors explaining the rise: 1. Population Growth: Africa's population has increased by approximately 75% since 2000. This alone explains most of the increase in absolute case numbers, while cases per capita have remained relatively flat since 2015. 2. Stagnant Funding: After rapid growth starting in 2000, funding for malaria prevention plateaued around 2010. 3. Insecticide Resistance: Mosquitoes have become increasingly resistant to the insecticides used in bednets over the past 20 years. This has made older models of bednets less effective, although they still have some effect. Newer models of bednets developed in response to insecticide resistance are more effective but still not widely deployed.  I very crudely estimate that without any of these factors, there would be 55% fewer malaria cases in the world than what we see today. I think all three of these factors are roughly equally important in explaining the difference.  Alternative explanations like removal of PFAS, climate change, or invasive mosquito species don't appear to be major contributors.  Overall this investigation made me more convinced that bednets are an effective global health intervention.  Introduction In 2015, malaria rates were down, and EAs were celebrating. Giving What We Can posted this incredible gif showing the decrease in malaria cases across Africa since 2000: Giving What We Can said that > The reduction in malaria has be
Neel Nanda
 ·  · 1m read
 · 
Ronen Bar
 ·  · 10m read
 · 
"Part one of our challenge is to solve the technical alignment problem, and that’s what everybody focuses on, but part two is: to whose values do you align the system once you’re capable of doing that, and that may turn out to be an even harder problem", Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO (Link).  In this post, I argue that: 1. "To whose values do you align the system" is a critically neglected space I termed “Moral Alignment.” Only a few organizations work for non-humans in this field, with a total budget of 4-5 million USD (not accounting for academic work). The scale of this space couldn’t be any bigger - the intersection between the most revolutionary technology ever and all sentient beings. While tractability remains uncertain, there is some promising positive evidence (See “The Tractability Open Question” section). 2. Given the first point, our movement must attract more resources, talent, and funding to address it. The goal is to value align AI with caring about all sentient beings: humans, animals, and potential future digital minds. In other words, I argue we should invest much more in promoting a sentient-centric AI. The problem What is Moral Alignment? AI alignment focuses on ensuring AI systems act according to human intentions, emphasizing controllability and corrigibility (adaptability to changing human preferences). However, traditional alignment often ignores the ethical implications for all sentient beings. Moral Alignment, as part of the broader AI alignment and AI safety spaces, is a field focused on the values we aim to instill in AI. I argue that our goal should be to ensure AI is a positive force for all sentient beings. Currently, as far as I know, no overarching organization, terms, or community unifies Moral Alignment (MA) as a field with a clear umbrella identity. While specific groups focus individually on animals, humans, or digital minds, such as AI for Animals, which does excellent community-building work around AI and animal welfare while
Relevant opportunities
View more