Call for Applications – Nutrition-Sensitive Marketing Consultant

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Nutrition-Sensitive Marketing Consultant

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR)

Title: Nutrition-Sensitive Marketing Consultant

Entity & Project Name: Palladium International LLC; Growth Poles Project

Location: Lilongwe, Malawi

Type of engagement: Individual Consultancy

Estimated Duration: 4 to 6 Weeks

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

Reporting to: Deputy Team Leader – Programming and Partnerships

Deadline to Apply: 10th July 2026 by 17:00hrs CAT

How to Apply:

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.

As part of this initiative, Palladium is partnering with a private sector company to pilot a medium-sized enterprise poultry production and revolving loan model that integrates nutrition-sensitive approaches, with the goal of improving access to and consumption of affordable, high-quality protein among rural populations.

Assignment Abstract:

This assignment will support the design and integration of a nutrition-sensitive national marketing approach within the private sector company’s commercial platform. The consultant will work closely with Palladium and the private sector company’s teams to ensure that nutrition messaging is embedded into its marketing systems and customer engagement channels, while also being reinforced through farmer-level interactions.

The assignment will prioritize practical and scalable solutions that can be sustained and expanded by the private sector company beyond the pilot phase. This work will contribute to increasing awareness and demand for poultry, chicks and other poultry products as an affordable protein source, while also supporting measurable improvements in nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.

This assignment is designed as a collaborative, co-creation process with the private sector company, focusing on practical and scalable solutions rather than standalone technical outputs.

Background and Context

The Growth Poles Project is working with a private sector partner to pilot an initiative designed to achieve both entrepreneurial and improved nutritional outcomes in Malawi through increased availability of affordable, high quality, and locally produced animal proteins. The project includes piloting a credit product to support medium-sized enterprise poultry production, and piloting nutrition education and marketing campaigns to promote increased poultry consumption in rural communities, particularly among vulnerable groups such as women of reproductive age, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, and children under the age of five. The primary objectives of the pilot are to (1) assess the financial viability and scalability of the loan model, (2) improve farmer incomes by enabling profitable poultry enterprises, and (3) increase demand and access to affordable, high-quality protein. Results will be measured through loan repayment performance, enterprise profitability, improved awareness of nutritional benefits of poultry produces, and changes in household poultry consumption, while generating lessons to inform future scale-up of the model.

To support nutrition-related objectives of the pilot, the Growth Poles Project seeks to engage a consultant to co-create a national nutrition sensitive marketing campaign designed to leverage the private sector company’s national commercial footprint and entrepreneur training program while focusing activation in pilot areas where poultry enterprises are being established.

Purpose of the Assignment

The purpose of this assignment is to support the development and operationalisation of a nutrition-sensitive marketing approach that integrates nutrition messaging into the private sector company’s national marketing platforms and aligns messaging across both consumer-facing and farmer-facing channels. The assignment is expected to support measurable improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours related to poultry consumption, while ensuring alignment with the broader objectives of the partnership.

The nutrition-sensitive campaign will specifically aim to increase awareness of poultry as an affordable and accessible source of protein, improve knowledge and attitudes related to household nutrition, and influence positive consumption behaviours in targeted communities. It will also aim to strengthen demand for poultry products in ways that complement the poultry production pilot, while generating insights on how nutrition-sensitive approaches can be effectively embedded within private sector-led marketing systems.

The assignment is expected to ensure that these objectives are delivered through practical, scalable approaches aligned with the private sector company’s commercial model, including its poultry entrepreneurship training program, while contributing to measurable improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours related to poultry consumption.

Scope of Work

The consultant will work closely with Palladium and the private sector company’s teams to design and integrate a nutrition-sensitive national marketing campaign, ensuring alignment with operational realities and implementation timelines.

Component 1: Nutrition Messaging Framework and National Marketing Design (Primary Focus)

Key Tasks:
The consultant will develop a clear,practical, and evidence-based nutrition messaging framework that highlights targeted areas for improving knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to poultry as an affordable and accessible source of protein and promotes improved household nutrition behaviours, especially for vulnerable population groups such as women of reproductive age, pregnant and lactating women, and children under five years old. Messaging will be tailored to both national consumer audiences and delivery through poultry entrepreneurs, who will act as community-level influencers.

The consultant will work closely with private sector company’s marketing team to develop a plan to integrate this messaging into existing national marketing platforms, including retail touchpoints, promotional activities, and broader campaigns, as well as entrepreneur marketing. This will include defining priority audience segments, identifying appropriate delivery channels, and ensuring alignment with company’s brand and commercial positioning to support scalability.

Deliverables:

  1. Nutrition messaging framework, including knowledge, attitudes and behaviors targeted for change by market segment and examples of messaging (This is the “what” of the nutrition campaign”
  2. Nutrition Messaging Integration Plan, identifying channels for delivering different messages to different segments, and a timeline and workplan for implementation (This is the “how”)

Component 2: Support Campaign Operationalisation and Rollout Strategy

Key Tasks:
The consultant will work with the private sector firm’s marketing team to translate the nutrition messaging framework and integration plan into a  practical rollout strategy that aligns national-level messaging with targeted engagement in priority rural and pilot areas, and carry out implementation of the plan. This will include developing and delivering training-of-trainers for poultry entrepreneurs, reviewing and providing feedback on marketing campaign products, and participating in weekly calls with the marketing team

Deliverables:

  1. Entrepreneur Nutrition-Sensitive Marketing Training Guide
  2. Training-of-trainers Delivered
  3. Ongoing technical support: Regular written and verbal input on national marketing campaign implementation

Component 3: Monitoring and Learning Integration

Key Tasks:
The consultant will work with the project MEL team and the private sector partner to define key outputs, outcomes, impacts and indicators linked to the objectives of the nutrition sensitive marketing component of the pilot project, including improved awareness, attitudes, and consumption of poultry as a protein source, particularly among targeted vulnerable groups. This will include developing an implementation monitoring plan, and identifying indicators related to knowledge, attitudes, and practices, and working with the MEL team to integrate these into MEL activities, including a baseline and endline survey of poultry entrepreneurs and targeted poultry clientele.

Deliverables:

  1. Activity monitoring plan, tracking key activities, outputs, and milestones
  2. Nutrition sensitive marketing MEL recommendations (including indicators and suggested incorporation into MEL framework)

Component 4: Training Integration (Secondary – Limited Scope)

Key Tasks:
The consultant will review the existing farmer training structure and develop a concise nutrition module that integrates key messaging into the current training system. This will include simple guidance for facilitators to ensure consistency between farmer training and marketing messaging.

This component should remain streamlined and practical, supporting reinforcement of key messages rather than introducing a standalone training program.

Deliverables:

  1. Short Nutrition Training Module
  2. Facilitator Guidance Note

Duration

The assignment is expected to last approximately 4 to 6 Weeks.

Management and Reporting Arrangements

  • The consultant will report to the Deputy Team Leader – Partnerships & Programming and will work in close coordination with the private sector company’s’ marketing team, training and field teams, and Palladium’s monitoring and evaluation team.
  • All deliverables will be subject to review and approval by Palladium.

Required Qualifications and Experience

The service provider should demonstrate:

  • Proven experience in nutrition social and behaviour change communication (SBCC), including development of messaging aimed at influencing knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to diet and consumption
  • Strong knowledge of existing evidence on nutrition knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and outcomes in Malawi, including key barriers to adequate protein consumption among vulnerable groups and promising approaches for addressing these barriers
  • Experience designing and implementing marketing or communication strategies, including audience segmentation, channel selection, and message development
  • Demonstrated ability to integrate behaviour change approaches within private sector or market-based systems, particularly within agribusiness or food systems contexts
  • Experience working with or advising private sector partners, with an understanding of how to align development objectives with commercial incentives and operational models
  • Ability to translate technical concepts into practical, field-ready and business-aligned tools suitable for use by marketing teams and field staff
  • Experience working in rural or low-income market environments, including understanding of consumer behaviour in these contexts
  • Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills, with experience working in collaborative, co-creation processes with partner organisations
  • Demonstrated ability to produce actionable outputs within short timelines, with a focus on practicality and scalability
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce clear and accessible deliverables
  • Experience in nutrition-sensitive agriculture, food systems programming, or demand creation for food products in developing country contexts is a plus.

Selection Criteria

Selection will be based on best-value trade-off, considering:

  • Relevant experience and qualifications
  • Quality, clarity, and practicality of the technical proposal
  • Demonstrated ability to integrate nutrition into market-based systems
  • 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 provided template
  • Financial proposal

 

Use of Results

Outputs from this assignment will be used to:

  • Integrate nutrition into private sector-led national marketing systems
  • Support adaptive implementation of the poultry production pilot
  • Generate learning on scaling nutrition-sensitive approaches through private sector and agribusiness platforms.

Post expires at 11:59pm on Thursday July 9th, 2026