What can be termed an epitome of IPOR's contribution to residents of it base, Zomba City, is a donation of a skip loader truck and eight skip bins. On a sunny morning of Friday, 29th March 2019, IPOR's Founding Partner, Prof. Blessings Chinsinga handed over keys to the skip loader truck on IPOR's behalf to the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr. Charles Kalemba who received the donation on behalf of Zomba City Council (ZCC) watched by management and staff members of both the Institute and ZCC. The donation was part of an experimental study on Collective Action and Solid Waste Collection in Malawi's old capital city part of which involved waste collection in various locations in the city.

Speaking at the handover function, Prof. Chinsinga said unlike other studies that IPOR conducts that only end at making recommendations for the formulation of good governance and development policies of this research stands out as it will see people benefit as it is still going on. In his remarks, the then ZCC Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mussa Mwale hailed the donation, saying this would be the first time for the Council to have a skip loader and skips as the Council had been using compactors and waste bunkers for waste collection. He also said that the equipment is expected to reduce the workload as well as time taken in refuse collection in the city. Echoing these sentiments, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development's Principal Secretary, who was the event's Guest of Honour, applauded the partnership between the players involved in the project, describing the study as beneficial as it would bring out positive results to Zomba residents and the City Council.

The research project was a collaboration of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and IPOR with funding from the Department for International Development (DFID) through Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP).