Education is a human right; it should not be a privilege. Young people can be the change they want to see in the world. It’s just that in many developing countries, young leaders do not always have the means to continue with their education and reach their full potential.

We think that the most effective way for communities to develop is to enable more people from within communities to have access to education, so that they can be the leaders of the change they want to see. Watipa is a social enterprise, where we channel the profits from providing ethical consultancy services into a youth development fund.

You can join us and directly add your support.

How many young leaders do you want to support in their education? Two is the answer, for a whole year, if you give one thousand to the Watipa youth development programme.

If you were to give one thousand, don’t you want to know where the money goes? Watipa is run as a social enterprise, which means that we run a profitable business and donate 10% of our profits to the youth development programme. All our overhead and management costs are covered from the revenue generated by the business. That means, we don’t charge any processing fee or profit at all from the donations to the youth development programme.

100% of the funds received go directly to support young people.

At Watipa, the leadership and expertise of young people are central throughout everything that we do. Three members of our Board of Trustees (one quarter) are under the age of 27 years old.

Young people are leaders of today – not only of tomorrow. We recognise that young people often know the solutions they would like to see to improve the situation in their communities, it’s just that they lack opportunities to make that change happen.

Watipa is much more than the sum of our parts, and lead at the core by a committee group of visionary young leaders in developing countries around the world. In the consultancy services we provide in the social enterprise, we create opportunities to involve the Watipa scholars. This benefits the clients, who get access to fresh perspectives from people outside the ‘usual’ reach of development initiatives. This benefits the consultancy team, as we get to work with vibrant and insightful young leaders. It also benefits the scholars, through creating work experience, income generating opportunities, and exposure to international colleagues.

 

 

Watipa is hope. Watipa is a social enterprise working to enable equal societies, just development, and equal health for all.

Founded in 2016, Watipa is a registered Community Interest Company limited by shares (10226833) and Charitable Incorporate Organisation (1173178) in England and Wales.

Watipa  is named after a nine-year-old girl in the North of Malawi, Watipa, who embodies courage, determination and hope for a better, just and more equal future. In Tumbuka, her local language, Watipa literally means ‘has been provided for.’

Watipa was founded in 2016 by 9 inspirational women from 6 different countries. The collaborative, inter-disciplinary and international approach of Watipa offers value for money (many minds for the price of one!) from the bespoke consultancy services we provide, and the quality of our technical advice is enhanced by the collaboration between technical experts across different contexts around the world.  Watipa’s services offer more than the sum of the parts provided by the individual area specialists.

Watipa’s work is founded on pillars of:

• Intellectual excellence and lateral thinking
• Innovations in programme implementation
• Effective advocacy
• Recognition of the power of communities
• Learning from, listening to, and strengthening community participation
• Agility and responsiveness

Lucy Stackpool-Moore is the founder and director of Watipa, and draws on more than 15 years of professional, academic and lived experience in community development in different contexts around the world. Lucy has worked for some leading non-government organisations in international development and currently also teaches courses on human rights, health, and international development at the University of London (Birkbeck College and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and Melbourne University Law School. Lucy has a PhD in International Development and Law (SOAS, University of London, 2013), an LLM in Human Rights (with distinction, Birkbeck, 2010), an MA in International Education (with distinction, University of Sussex, 2004), and a BA in Liberal Arts (with high honours, Harvard University, 2002).

For more information, see our website and meet the other consultants and founding members of Watipa.

Watipa is governed by a Board of 12 Trustees located in Australia, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Uganda and the UK. Honouring a commitment to meaningful youth engagement throughout decision making and programming, 1/3 of the Board of Trustees are young people under the age of 27 including 2 of the inaugural Watipa scholars.