Call for Applications – Annual Firm Survey Data Collection and Networking Event Evaluation

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Annual Firm Survey Data Collection and Networking Event Evaluation

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)

Title: Annual Firm Survey Data Collection and Networking Event Evaluation
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 6 weeks (exact duration to be proposed by applicant)
Budget Ceiling: USD 25,000
Provisional Start Date: Within 2 weeks of award of bid, Provisional Start Date on or around 20 August 2026
Reporting to: Deputy Team Leader – Program Quality
Deadline to Apply: 18 August, 2026, by 17:00hrs CAT

How to Apply:

• Download the proposal template using: Growth Poles Firm Survey and Networking Eval Proposal Template 2026 08 04
• Submit email proposals to ProcurementGPMW@thepalladiumgroup.com with subject line “Proposal – Firm Survey”

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

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

• Technical proposal using template (Accessible below)
• Financial proposal using template (Accessible below)
• One example of a previous report evaluating a market systems development program or approach

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 works through partnerships with market actors—not as beneficiaries but as drivers of change—to ensure durable impact on food security, job creation, domestic production, and exports, thereby supporting Malawi’s broader structural transformation and long-term sustainable development. By leveraging private sector investment and partnerships with anchor firms, cooperatives, and smallholder organizations, the project strengthens sustainable livelihoods—particularly for women and youth—through enhanced agricultural productivity, commercialization, and value addition. Some of the approaches the Growth Poles Project uses to achieve these goals include market systems development approaches and support for networking to connect producers, offtakers, and financers.

Annual performance indicator reporting for the Malawi Growth Poles Project is a central mechanism for tracking progress and ensuring accountability to stakeholders. To address reporting on firm level outcomes and impact, seeks to engage a service provider to conduct a survey to collect required reporting indicators, as well as other indicators for learning and communications purposes. One key area of learning for 2026 is understanding the value of networking support: what impact it has had, what approaches or aspects are most successful and valued, and their sustainability.

The project seeks a service provider to design and implement 1) a survey of the project’s private sector partners for the purpose of reporting on key performance and learning indicators and 2) an evaluation of the project’s networking support activities, drawing on data from the survey under task (1).

Interested applicants are invited to submit a proposal for methods, activities, and outputs meeting the Growth Pole Project objectives for these two tasks, with a maximum budget of USD25,000.

Objectives of the Assignment

Proposals should be designed to report on the following performance indicators and address the following key learning questions:

• How many collaborations resulted from networking and trade events supported by the project? (Performance Indicator)
• How has partnership with the Growth Poles Project impacted partner businesses? What additionality has the project brought for partner business objectives? What was the impact of participation in GPP activities on PGP business speed of growth, confidence in taking on news risk/innovations, scale of operations, sales, and profits? (Learning Indicators)
• What types of support and activities do private sector firms value the most? What types of support would they like to get more of? (Learning Indicators)
• What impact has GPP networking support, including participation in networking events including the 2025 Soybean Tour and 2026 Legume Tour, had on partner firm outcomes including sales, expanded markets, improved access to suppliers/buyers, new financing opportunities, or strengthened visibility? (Learning Indicators)
• What factors enabled or limited firms from converting networking opportunities into practical business outcomes? (Learning Indicators)
• What types of networking support or platforms are viewed as valuable, and why? How can the project promote sustainability for the most valuable aspects of networking support beyond the life of the project? (Learning Indicators)

The evaluation of the project’s networking support activities is intended to document results to date and inform the project’s approach going forward.

Required Deliverables:

1. Indicator Results Report Tables in Excel with results for key indicators including the Performance Indicator
2. Evaluation Report addressing all key learning questions
3. Presentation of Evaluation Findings

Applicants may propose other outputs, such as learning briefs, at their discretion if their budget allows. Outputs for the evaluation task should be accessible to a general audience, including project implementation staff, private sector partners, and donors, while containing sufficient concise technical information about methods to establish credibility.

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 and realistic approach to meeting the assignment objectives. Applicants should use their technical proposal to define their own proposed approach and demonstrate their ability to deliver high quality outputs.

In their proposal, applicants are asked to provide:

• A description of a proposed general approach for firm survey data collection. This should include the following:
  • Proposed sample and sampling approach (see Table 1 for summary of population of firm partners)
  • Proposed data collection methods and tools
  • Proposed approach to ensuring good response rates and high quality data
  • Proposed format for reporting results
• A description of a proposed general approach to the networking evaluation. This should include the following:
  • Proposed evaluation methodology
  • Proposed additional data sources, if any
  • Proposed outputs
• 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 USD25,000

Table 1. Summary of Population of Growth Poles Project Firm Partners

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 and implement data collection
• Clean, analyse, and summarize the data against the key indicators
• Deliver a concise results summary for the required performance indicator
• Deliver high quality evaluation output(s) that meet the learning objectives

The Growth Poles Project will provide a complete list of partner firms, email contact information, and detailed background on partnership activities, including the networking support activities, as well as the performance indicator reference sheet for the required performance indicator.

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. The evaluation outputs should be delivered as soon as possible after the October 1 start of the program year, so that learning can inform activities for the year, while also ensuring thoughtful, high quality analysis. 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 in evaluating market systems development (MSD) and/or private sector development approaches
• Experience designing cost-effective, fit-for-purpose data collection approaches under tight timelines
• Experience managing high quality data collection with similar populations and data collection methods
• Familiarity with business culture and the business landscape in Malawi or comparable contexts, especially the agricultural and processing sector, and the constraints faced by these businesses, is a strong advantage
• 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 template and submit all application components by August 18, 2026

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

• Technical proposal (using provided template below)
• Financial proposal (using provided template below)
• One example of a previous evaluation of a market systems or private sector development program or activity

Use of Results

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

• Support results reporting on firm outcomes from networking support for the 10 October reporting deadline
• Document results to date for outcomes and impact from networking support including networking events
• Provide recommendations on lessons and best practices for future networking support activities, including types of platforms that are most effective, how the project can improve the rate of follow through on connections made through networking, and how networking benefits could be sustained past the end of the project.

Templates can be downloaded using: 

Growth Poles Firm Survey and Networking Eval Proposal Template 2026 08 04

Copy of budget template firm survey 2026 08 04

Post expires at 5:00pm on Tuesday August 18th, 2026