Call for Applications – Market Systems Development (MSD) Data Collection Capacity Building and Results Reporting Assignment for Organic Fertilizers and other Soil Health Technologies Promotion

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Market Systems Development (MSD) Data Collection Capacity Building and Results Reporting Assignment for Organic Fertilizers and other Soil Health Technologies Promotion

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)

Title: Market Systems Development (MSD) Data Collection Capacity Building and Results Reporting Assignment for Organic Fertilizers and other Soil Health Technologies Promotion

Entity & Project Name: Palladium Internationally LLC; Growth Poles Project 2.0

Location: Lilongwe, Malawi (with some travel to Blantyre and environ)

Type of engagement: Service Provider

Estimated Duration: Approximately 2 months (exact duration to be proposed by applicant)

Budget Ceiling: USD 45,000

Provisional Start Date: Within 2 weeks of award of bid, Provisional Start Date on or around 25 August 2026

Reporting to: Deputy Team Leader – Program Quality

Deadline to Apply: 14 August, 2026, by 17:00hrs CAT

How to Apply:

  • Download the application template on the Careers Malawi advertisement
  • Submit email proposals to ProcurementGPMW@thepalladiumgroup.com with subject line “Proposal – MSD Organic Fertilizer Reporting”

Required Qualifications and Experience: see “Required Qualifications and Experience” below

Proposal Requirements:  Interested individuals and/or firms should submit:

  • Technical proposal using template
  • Financial proposal using template

Company Overview

Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value.  We work with governments, businesses, and investors to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. With a global team and network of experts, we help improve economies, societies and, most importantly, people’s lives.

Project Overview

The Growth Poles Project 2.0 (GPP 2.0) is a five-year initiative (Oct 2023–Sept 2028) led by Palladium International and funded by Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs. It aims to accelerate inclusive, sustainable, and resilient wealth creation in Malawi by mobilizing private sector investments in agriculture and natural resource management. Its development objective is to advance a more inclusive, diversified, and resilient private sector that drives sustainable wealth creation while enhancing environmental and ecological diversity.

The Growth Poles Project applies a market systems development (MSD) approach to promoting agricultural technologies, including soil health products, among smallholder farmers. Rather than directly distributing products, the project works with and through private sector partners—such as commercial manufacturers, input suppliers, agrodealers, and other market actors—to expand the availability, marketing, and sale of agricultural technologies on a commercial basis. The project supports these partners with technical assistance, co-investment, and capacity building, with the aim of catalyzing sustainable, market-driven uptake of improved technologies by farmers, rather than uptake that depends on direct project subsidy or distribution.

Background and Context

The Growth Poles Project supports the promotion of agricultural technologies to smallholder farmers using a market systems development (MSD) approach, working through private sector partners involved in the supply, marketing, and distribution of these products. Organic fertilizers are one category of products promoted through this approach.

The project seeks a service provider to (1) collect one round of MSD client-level data to support results reporting for this fiscal year, focused on one of the project’s soil health partners producing at scale, and (2) help build the Growth Poles Project team’s internal capacity to repeat and adapt this data collection approach for future reporting periods and other project interventions delivered via an MSD approach. This assignment is intended as both a one-off data collection exercise and a practical capacity building engagement for the project team.

Because the project does not collect detailed client-level data through routine partner records, the project needs to carry out targeted client data collection to support mandatory results reporting on MSD-supported activities. Partner data on clients vary: while all partners collect sales data, these data may be in hardcopy financial records that are not easy to access, or the records may be missing information that would make clients easy to track, such as phone numbers. Some sales also occur through agrodealer distributors.

The project currently works with several soil health partners of varying scale; sales volumes and partner numbers will be shared with shortlisted/selected applicants to inform their proposed approach and sampling considerations. The service provider will be asked to advise, as part of their proposed approach, on whether and how key findings from this partner (such as average client purchase size, product use practices, and yield impact) might reasonably be extrapolated to other soil health product sales, or whether additional data collection would be needed for other partners.

In parallel, the project aims to strengthen its own internal capacity to design and carry out this type of client data collection, so that the approach can be repeated and adapted for future reporting periods and for other MSD-supported activities and partners, without requiring a new external consultancy each time.

Key Indicators for Reporting

The data collection approach proposed by the service provider should be designed to support reporting on the following key indicators, disaggregated as noted:

  • Number of clients reached, disaggregated by gender and youth status
  • Hectares under improved technology (soil health products)
  • Net attributable income change associated with use of the soil health technology

Reporting must cover these results for clients who purchased products from partners between October 2025 and July 2026.

The project anticipates that additional contextual data—such as average client purchase size, how clients use the product, and yield impact—will also be useful both for reporting and for informing the extrapolation question described above and welcomes service provider input on the most cost-effective way to capture this information.

Purpose of the Assignment

This assignment is intended as both a one-off data collection exercise and a practical capacity building engagement for the project team. Therefore, this assignment has two equally important objectives:

  1. Objective 1 – Results Reporting: Collect one round of MSD client-level data from a sample of clients of the selected project partner, sufficient to support evidence-based reporting on the key indicators above in time for the project’s 10 October reporting deadline.
  2. Objective 2 – Capacity Building: Work closely with the Growth Poles Project team throughout the assignment so that the team builds the practical skills and tools needed to repeat and adapt this data collection approach independently in future reporting periods, and to apply it to other MSD-supported activities and partners.

Scope of Work

This assignment is intentionally open with respect to detailed methodology. The Growth Poles Project is seeking a service provider who can demonstrate a cost-effective, realistic, and proven evidence-based approach to MSD client (end user) data collection under an MSD approach, while also being a strong partner for hands-on capacity building with the project team. Applicants should use their technical proposal to define their own proposed approach, grounded in MSD good practice and tailored to the project’s reporting needs, timeline, and budget realities.

In their proposal, applicants are asked to provide:

  • A description of a proposed general approach for reporting on the key indicators (number of clients (end users) by gender and youth, hectares under improved technology, and net attributable income change) that is cost effective, realistic given the project’s timeline and resources, but robust enough to enable evidence-based reporting. This should include the following:
    • Approach to developing a sample frame based on realistic scenarios for partner client data records
    • Sampling approach
    • Data collection methods and tools
  • Advice on whether/how findings could reasonably be extrapolated to other soil health product sales or partners, including proposed methodology to collect contextual data such as average client purchase size, how clients use the product, and yield impact
  • A clear description of the capacity building component – for example, co-design sessions, shadowing, training materials, tools or templates left with the project team, or other practical mechanisms for skills transfer
  • Proposed detailed activities and timeline
  • An associated budget to implement this approach and achieve both objectives of the assignment (results reporting and capacity building), falling under the budget cap of USD45,000

At a minimum, the service provider is expected to elaborate their approach to complete the following:

  • Finalize the data collection approach, sample, and tools in consultation with the Growth Poles Project
  • Lead or co-lead data collection from a sample of clients of the selected soil health partner
  • Clean, analyse, and summarize the data against the key indicators, with advice on extrapolation to other soil health product sales where appropriate
  • Deliver a concise results summary and supporting indicator tables in time for the project’s 10 October reporting deadline
  • Deliver the capacity building component as proposed, leaving the project team with the tools, documentation, and practical experience needed to repeat and adapt the approach independently

The Growth Poles Project will provide an overview of its MSD approach, approximate sales volumes by product type and number of partners for soil health technologies, and other background information, and will facilitate introductions to the relevant partner and project staff. The project will also provide input and quality assurance throughout the assignment.

Duration

The assignment is expected to last approximately 2 months, with results reporting deliverables completed in time to support the project’s 10 October reporting deadline. Applicants should propose a realistic timeline based on their proposed approach.

Management and Reporting Arrangements

  • The service provider will report to the Deputy Team Leader for Program Quality and Learning.
  • The service provider will provide regular progress updates and participate in calls and meetings with Palladium as required, including working sessions dedicated to the capacity building objective.

Required Qualifications and Experience

The service provider should demonstrate:

  • Expertise and practical experience applying market systems development (MSD) approaches, including client- or beneficiary(end user)-level data collection for MSD reporting
  • Experience designing cost-effective, fit-for-purpose data collection approaches under tight timelines
  • Experience or strong aptitude for capacity building and skills transfer with partner teams
  • Familiarity with agricultural input markets, soil health technologies, or smallholder agriculture in Malawi or comparable contexts is an advantage
  • Creativity and good judgement in balancing justifiable approaches to estimating key outcome variables with practical constraints including partner data records, budget, and timeline
  • Strong analytical and report-writing skills, with the ability to produce clear, accessible findings for non-technical audiences
  • Ability to work collaboratively with project staff throughout the assignment
  • Strong communication and project management skills

Selection will be based on best-value trade-off, taking into account the credibility and cost-effectiveness of the applicant’s proposed approach, demonstrated MSD aptitude, relevant experience, the strength of the proposed capacity building component, and value for money.

How to Apply: Download application templates and submit all application components by August 14, 2026

Proposal Requirements:  Interested individuals and/or firms should submit:

  • A technical proposal describing (1) a proposed general approach for reporting on the key indicators that is cost effective, realistic, and enables evidence-based reporting, and (2) proposed detailed activities to implement this approach and achieve both assignment objectives, using the provided template
  • Financial proposal
  • One example of a previous market systems or client-level data collection report produced by the applicant

Use of Results

The outputs of this consultancy will be used by Palladium and the Growth Poles Project to:

  • Support evidence-based results reporting on MSD-supported soil health technologies for the project’s 10 October reporting deadline
  • Build the Growth Poles Project team’s internal capacity to repeat and adapt this client data collection approach for future reporting periods and other MSD-supported activities

Download application templates below

Post expires at 5:00pm on Friday August 14th, 2026