
About Us
Institute for Participatory Engagement and Quality Improvement (IPEQI) is duly registered trust with the registrar of companies and a member of Council for Non-Governmental Organization (CONGOMA) and NGO Regulatory Authority (NGORA).
Mission Statement
- IPEQI exist to improve the lives of the people of Malawi and other developing countries through effective participatory engagement and quality improvement.
Our Values
Integrity and Honesty
Accountability
Professionalism and quality work
Bribe and corrupt free
Efficiency
Innovation
Objectives
Use a participatory approach to transform the development landscape in Malawi and other developing countries.
Significantly strengthen the capacity of Malawi’s and other developing countries’ NGOs and CBOs to identify and respond to local development needs.
Influence governmental policy and action on participatory community / institutional engagement for radical positive change in the lives of the most vulnerable members of the society.
Engage with government departments, other relevant stakeholders including NGOs and bodies, as well as national and international funders in order to promote sustainable participatory engagement and quality improvement in implementing development programs
Use participatory design research and quality improvement approaches.
Capacity building and mentoring community, national structures and institutions on quality improvement in organizational management.
Engage and train the relevant government development practitioners to oversee and support the participatory and quality improvement implementation program at the community / institutional level to ensure sustainability;
Document and publicize best practices to enable context-sensitive expansion in Malawi and other developing countries.
Use lawful methods to raise, obtain and receive funds and any other forms of gifts in-kind to promote the aims of the Trust; and
Undertake any other lawful, competent activities not cited above that will promote the objectives of the Trust.
Projects
info
Circle of Care
The Circle of Care project supports the multigenerational wellbeing of the most systematically marginalized households in Malawi: those composed of grandparents who are caring for and being cared for by children, who themselves have often been orphaned. The Circle of Care project is a partnership between the people of Traditional Authority Nkula (Machinga District, Malawi), the Institute for Participatory Engagement and Quality Improvement (a Malawian NGO), and members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (a US university). It is funded by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Baldwin Ideas grant, with in-kind support from the School of Education, the School of Human Ecology, and the 4W Initiative.

Circle of Care works in partnership with elders, community members, and government extension workers in Traditional Authority Nkula (Machinga District, Malawi) to build a sustainable, elder-responsive and community-centered support structure around elder-headed households (EHHs). Circle of Care staff collaborate with district extension workers and community leaders and members to first deeply understand, and then improve, familial, communal, district, and (inter)national support for elders’ wellbeing. It utilizes an elder-centered and EHH-responsive framework to engage and sensitize community and government leaders; a democratic processual model that includes a wide range of community members in every stage of sensitization and mobilization; and a monitoring and evaluation model that centers elder-responsive project quality improvement.
Project Approach The Circle of Care approach includes core initiatives that are developed, piloted, improved, and coordinated by Circle of Care staff, and implemented in partnership with district and community members; and later initiatives that are developed and implemented by community members, with support from Circle of Care staff. Circle of Care uses design research and Monitoring and Evaluation for Quality Improvement models developed by UW-Madison staff to support full community ownership of each phase of project design, implementation, and evaluation. This results in a project approach that is constantly improving to address the significant, and rapidly changing, challenges to EHHs’ wellbeing.
Project interventions Utilizing this approach, the Circle of Care coordinated the following essential interventions that fed into EHHs improved wellbeing: basic needs provision (chicken, maize, social cash transfers, blankets and tree seedlings for 200 households), health, nutrition/food security, housing security, dignity, cultural honor and belonging (responses to witchcraft), education, mental health, community mobilization, local governance, transition to local resource base, new identification and selection approaches (e.g., identification of beneficiaries), honoring elders).
Tikuyendela Limodzi Project
Tikuyenderadi Limodzi was a 10-month project which was being funded by USAID through LGAP and was implemented by IPEQI in collaboration with the District Council officials. During the implementation period (May 2020–February, 2021), under Theme 1, “Strengthening functionality of decentralized structures” and Theme 2, “Oversight of District Planning/Strengthening council reporting mechanisms on implementation of District Development Plans (DDPs)”

Project Activities Implemented:
- Assessing ADCs functionality before and after project implementation
- Trainings of ADC members on their roles and responsibilities as well as orientations on project monitoring tool.
- Development of training and monitoring tools
- Joint monitoring & supervision of project by IPEQI and District Council staff members throughout the implementation period.
- Facilitation of bi-annual interface meetings with duty bearers and rights holders following emerging issues from the joint monitoring and assessment of ADCs functionality retrospectively.
Board of Directors
Get to know our Board of Directors

Professor Chrissie Thakwalakwa
Chairperson
Professor Nancy Kendall

Zikani Kaunda , PhD.

Lori DiPrete Brown,

Dr. Maxton Grant Tsoka

Counsel Wesley Mwafulirwa
Contact
visit our offices
Our Address
PIJO House
P.O. Box 163, Zomba
Email Us
info@ipeqi.com
ipeqi19@gmail.com
Call Us
+265 888 988 170
+265 992 660 801