Call for Applications : Growth Poles Project Annual Participant Survey

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Growth Poles Project Annual Participant Survey

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)

Title: Growth Poles Project Annual Participant Survey

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

Location: Lilongwe, Malawi

Type of engagement: Service Provider(s)

Estimated Duration: Approximately 2 months (August–September 2026)

Provisional Start Date: Within 2 weeks of award of bid, Provisional Start Date on or around 1 August 2026

Reporting to: Deputy Team Leader – Program Quality

Deadline to Apply: 29 July, 2026, by 17:00hrs CAT

How to Apply:

• Submit email proposals to ProcurementGPMW@thepalladiumgroup.com with subject line “Proposal – Annual Survey”
• Please download the financial proposal templates and Technical proposal Templates using the links below:

1. 1. Technical proposal Template: Growth Poles Annual Survey Proposal Template Participant Survey 2026 07 09 (1)
   2. Financial proposal Template: Budget template annual participant survey 2026 07 09 (1)

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

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

1. Technical proposal using template link provided above.
2. Financial proposal using template link provided above.
3. One example of a previous household survey report produced by the applicant

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.

Background and Context

Annual performance indicator reporting for the Malawi Growth Poles Project is a central mechanism for tracking progress and ensuring accountability to stakeholders. It enables the project to measure achievements against defined targets across its objectives, providing clear, evidence-based results on outcomes such as investment mobilization, agricultural productivity, and inclusive economic growth. In addition to accountability, annual reporting supports adaptive management by highlighting trends, gaps, and emerging results. This allows the project team to assess performance, identify areas requiring adjustment, and refine implementation strategies to improve effectiveness and sustainability over time.

An annual participant survey will play a critical role in supporting this reporting. This surveys will generate key outcome and impact data that are not captured through routine project or partner records, including participant perceptions, income-related changes, and women’s empowerment indicators. Conducted annually, the survey will provide consistent, comparable data that feed directly into performance indicators and contribute to the project evaluation. The following are Growth Poles Performance Indicators with the annual participant survey as the data source:

• Participant Level Indicators
• Percent of surveyed participants reporting that PGPs contribute to their communities’ local economic development
• Percent of surveyed female participants in Partner Growth Pole outgrower programs supported by the project reporting that they can influence their partner or significant other in financial decisions
• Value of sales of agricultural outputs by smallholders working within PGP-linked irrigation schemes, EUR

As this survey will collect sensitive data, including information on household income and women’s financial autonomy, the service provider will be required to follow robust informed consent, data protection, and confidentiality protocols throughout design, collection, storage, and reporting (see Data Quality and Ethics below).

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to engage qualified service provider(s) to design data collection instruments in consultation with GPP, implement the Participant Survey, analyze the results, and produce indicator tables and results reports. The surveys will specifically aim to:

• Generate annual performance indicator data required for project reporting to the donor
• Generate learning indicator data on the impact of PGP/GPA-linked activities on household income, welfare, and business performance
• Provide evidence to support the Growth Poles model and inform adaptive management

Key learning questions include:

1. What share of participants in PGP activities report that PGPs contribute to their communities’ local economic development? (Performance Indicator)
2. What share of female participants in PGP outgrower programs supported by the project report that they can influence their partner or significant other in financial decisions? (Performance Indicator)
3. What is the value of sales produced by smallholders working within PGP-linked irrigation schemes in the program year? (Performance Indicator)
4. What was the impact of participation in PGP-linked activities on household income and other key household welfare outcomes? (Learning indicators)
5. How many collaborations resulted from networking and trade events supported by the project? (Performance Indicator)
6. What was the impact of participation in GPP activities on PGP business scale of operations, sales, and profits? (Learning Indicators)

Findings will inform mandatory performance indicator reporting and project learning.

Scope of Work

It is expected that the Annual Participant Survey will be awarded to a firm with established data collection infrastructure. Only the 2026 Annual Participant Survey work will be awarded at this time.

The selected service providers will design questionnaires, sample selection methods, and data collection plans in consultation with the Growth Poles Project. The service providers will implement data collection, conduct data analysis, and produce indicator tables and results reports summarizing the survey results.

Overview of Data Collection

Participant Survey

An in-person survey of 300 project participants, with approximately 30 individuals drawn from each of 10 activity clusters spread across Malawi, as detailed below:

Component 1: Survey Design and Preparation

• Review draft participant survey questionnaire provided by the project and provide feedback
• Develop/refine sample selection methodology in consultation with GPP, using sample frame data provided by the project
• Program the questionnaire in an electronic data collection tool
• Conduct pilot testing and revise tools based on feedback
• Prepare enumerator manuals, field protocols, and a data collection plan

Deliverables: Final survey instrument and programmed questionnaire; data collection plan; enumerator training materials

Component 2: Data Collection

• Recruit and train enumerators
• Plan survey logistics, including travel to all sampled clusters
• Implement the in-person participant survey across all 9–11 clusters
• Monitor response rates and ensure adherence to data quality assurance protocols, including daily data checks and spot checks/back checks
• Ensure proper documentation of informed consent given the sensitivity of income and women’s empowerment data collected

Deliverables: Survey logistics plan; 330 surveys complete

Component 3: Data Management, Cleaning and Analysis

• Prepare and present a short data cleaning and analysis plan, including proposed results table and report outline
• Clean and validate datasets
• Conduct descriptive analysis disaggregated by gender, age, and cluster, and calculate all relevant performance and learning indicators

Deliverables: Cleaned dataset and codebook; performance indicator results table

Component 4: Reporting and Dissemination

• Prepare a draft results report summarizing performance and learning indicator findings, with simply presented key findings and statistics
• Incorporate GPP feedback and produce a final report

Deliverables: Draft results report; final results report (post-feedback)

Duration

The assignment is expected to last approximately 2 months (August – September 2026).

The indicative timeline is as follows:

• 10–25 July: Advertising
• 25 July – 10 August: Selection
• 10–20 August: Inception meeting and data collection plan finalized
• 20–25 August: Questionnaire and sample selection finalized; logistics planning
• 25 August – 10 September: Data collection
• 10–15 September: Data analysis
• 15–30 September: Report production

Management and Reporting Arrangements

• The service provider(s) will report to the Deputy Team Leader for Program Quality and Learning.
• Deliverables for each Component must be approved by Palladium before work on the next Component begins.
• The service provider(s) will provide weekly progress updates and participate in other calls and meetings with Palladium as required.

Required Qualifications and Experience

The service provider should demonstrate:

• Proven experience implementing household surveys in Malawi
• Capacity for rapid survey data collection implementation, including ability to mobilize enumerator teams and access to all hardware and software required for the assignment
• Strong data quality procedures and practices
• Protocols for handling sensitive data on income and women’s empowerment
• Expertise in quantitative data management and analysis
• Ability to produce a polished, error-free results report accessible to a non-technical audience
• Strong communication and project management skills

Selection will be based on best-value trade-off, taking into account applicant qualifications, quality of the technical proposal, and value for money.

How to Apply: email ProcurementGPMW@thepalladiumgroup.com to request a proposal template.

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

• A brief technical proposal describing their approach and expertise using the template which can be accessed using: Growth Poles Annual Survey Proposal Template Participant Survey 2026 07 09 (1)
• Financial proposal, A template can be accessed using: Budget template annual participant survey 2026 07 09 (1)
• One example of a previous household survey report produced by the applicant

Use of Results

The outputs of this consultancy will be used by Palladium and partners to:

• Report on annual performance indicators for the Growth Poles Project to the donor and stakeholders
• Support adaptive management by highlighting trends, gaps, and emerging results
• Build evidence on the impact and effectiveness of the Growth Poles model

Post expires at 11:59pm on Monday July 27th, 2026