Growth Poles

24/04/2026

🚨 Consultancy Opportunity | Event Communications & RSVP Management
We’re looking for a skilled consultant to support an upcoming Legume Tour Event by managing RSVP processes and attendee communications.
If you have experience in event coordination, stakeholder engagement, and digital communications, this is a great opportunity to contribute to a high-impact agricultural initiative.
🔑 Key responsibilities:
• Manage RSVP and registration processes
• Coordinate invitations, confirmations, and reminders
• Oversee attendee communication and tracking
• Support a smooth and well-organized event experience
This role is critical in ensuring strong participation and seamless coordination across stakeholders in the legumes sector.
📅 Apply here: https://tinyurl.com/4bfbu9mk

10/04/2026

🚨Are you passionate about keeping operations running smoothly and making a real impact? Palladium is looking for Operations professionals to support the Ireland‑funded Growth Poles Project in Lilongwe. We currently have two exciting opportunities:

Operations Assistant
Short‑term Operations Consultant (4‑month maternity cover)

Be part of a project driving sustainable growth, climate‑smart solutions, and private sector investment in Malawi.
📍 Location: Lilongwe

Deadline: 14 April 2026
👉 For full job descriptions and application details, visit:
https://tinyurl.com/hpes2hht
https://tinyurl.com/5cjrjjr7

10/04/2026

We're Hiring! Palladium is hiring for two exciting consultancy roles under the Growth Poles Project 2.0.- both contributing to sustainable development, water security and livelihoods in Malawi

🔹 Water Fund Design Consultant (7 months)
Lead the design of the Lilongwe Water Fund - a long term financing mechanism to strengthen water security, climate resilience, and catchment restoration.
🔹 Entrepreneurship Trainer - Community Nurseries (6 weeks)
Equip community nursery groups with the skills to operate as sustainable, income generating enterprises through practical, hands-on training.
📍 Location: Lilongwe

Deadlines:
Enterpreneurship Trainer: 17 April 2026
Water Fund Consultant: 26 April 2026

If you're passionate about impact, sustainability, and driving real change, this is your opportunity.
👉 For full job descriptions and application details, visit:
https://tinyurl.com/4madnftb
https://tinyurl.com/yj5wjwpf

20/03/2026

Date: 20-March-2026
From: Sub-Awards Manager, Palladium Growth Poles Project
To: General Public

Partnership Opportunity Notice (PON) for the Growth Poles Project’s Soil Health Challenge Competition Round 2 Questions Received and Answers

Thank you to all potential interested parties who submitted questions regarding our recently released Partnership Opportunity Notice (PON) for Palladium’s Growth Poles Project’s Soil Health Challenge Competition Round 2. We appreciate your engagement and interest in this opportunity. The compiled responses to all questions received are now available and are pasted below. We encourage all interested parties to review the answers as they prepare their submissions using the required application form by 31 March 2026.

Question 1: I have a question on exclusion / eligibility: While you state that chemical or synthetic fertilizers are excluded, can a portion of 10% be blended into a biochar-based fertilizer that is otherwise organic? It seems there is a recommendation by GoM that biochar-based organic fertiliser (BOF) should be blended with inorganic fertilizer. If [name omitted] factory becomes operational, we would consider only that one, and strictly no imported inorganic / chemical fertilizer. If this is not eligible, we will only base the formulation of BOF on additional agricultural lime.

Answer:

Yes: blended fertilizers are eligible so long as at least 75% of the ingredients (by volume) are locally produced organic and/or mineral formulas.


Question 2: Would you please share a full list of criteria and examples of co-investment and leverage required in the application of the Growth Pole Project’s Soil Health Challenge Competition Round.

Answer:

These are all available in the application form which can be requested from [email protected].


Question 3: We would be grateful for guidance on the following:

The required documentation or proposal format

Any available concept note or proposal templates

The official submission platform or contact point for applications



Answer:

These are all available in the application form which can be requested from [email protected] .

Question 4: Can a company not currently registered in Malawi but interested in expanding to Malawi apply?

Answer:

Due to the short duration of the grant period, only companies already registered in Malawi, or partnering with a company already registered in Malawi, qualify. If a foreign entity is applying with a Malawian entity as a joint venture, proof of that existing joint venture must be included in your application. Otherwise, the Malawian entity must apply as the primary applicant.

---END---

Open Call for Applications Partnership Opportunity Notice (PON) Opportunity Name: Growth Poles Project’s Soil Health Challenge Competition Round 2 – Commercializing Organic and Mineral Fertilizers…

17/03/2026

📹 Call for Videography Experts - Malawi

Are you passionate about storytelling that drives impact?

Palladium Growth Poles Project is looking for a skilled videographer or firm to produce compelling videos showcasing how organic fertilizer enterprises are transforming livelihoods, creating jobs, and improving soil health for smallholder farmers in Malawi.

This is your chance to bring powerful development stories to life through high-quality, impactful visuals.

📅 Deadline: 24th March 2026
🔗 Apply here: https://tinyurl.com/mvfu9kad

Terms of Reference Videography Services – Organic Fertilizer Enterprise Impact Video Background Palladium is implementing the Growth Poles Project supporting Malawian small and medium enterprises t…

12/03/2026

🚨 Consultant Opportunity in Malawi

Palladium is seeking experienced consultants to support work in Commodity Cluster Compacts in Malawi.

We are looking for professionals with experience working with Norwegian funded projects and agricultural value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa, ideally on Commodity Compacts and Growth Clusters. The assignment will involve intermittent short-term technical assistance over the next 24 months.

📩 Interested? Send your CV to:

[email protected]

⏰ Deadline: Friday, March 13

If you have the expertise and want to contribute to strengthening agricultural value chains, we encourage you to apply.

11/03/2026

📣Call for Applications | Soil Health Challenge Competition - Round 2

Are you a Malawian business working with organic fertilizers or natural mineral soil amendments? This is your chance to scale your impact and grow your business.

Palladium’s Growth Poles Project, funded by the Embassy of Ireland, is offering $50,000 - $150,000 in funding to help businesses scale solutions that improve soil health and agricultural productivity.
📅Deadline: 31 March 2026, 17:00 CAT.
🔗Apply here : https://tinyurl.com/49jc6dcc

Open Call for Applications Partnership Opportunity Notice (PON) Opportunity Name: Growth Poles Project’s Soil Health Challenge Competition Round 2 – Commercializing Organic and Mineral Fertilizers…

11/12/2025

11/12/2025

Why use the Growth Poles approach? Because smallholder-centered agricultural development strategies have had limited success in Malawi over the past several decades, policy makers are now increasingly looking for alternative ways to accelerate agricultural and rural development.
IFPRI just published a policy note on the opportunities and challenges of supporting development objectives through impact-driven, scalable private sector enterprises that anchor growth poles of prosperity (what we call ‘Partner Growth Poles’).

Along with its analysis, IFPRI provides recommendations for how to development partners can utilize use this approach effectively, including:

· Provide assistance in managing relationships with smallholder partners
· Organize financial and business training for smallholder farmers
· Support organizations, such as cooperatives or NGOs, that can act as intermediaries
· Develop easy to implement grades or standards and/or organize third-party certification of quality
· De-risk partnering with smallholder farmers

We are seeking to learn from this research, and so can you—reach the full policy note here:

https://massp.ifpri.info/2025/12/04/policy-note-54-the-development-potential-of-anchor-enterprise-models-in-malawi/

Smallholder-centered agricultural development strategies have had limited success in Malawi over the past several decades. Policy makers are now increasingly looking for alternative ways to accelerate agricultural and rural development. One emerging approach involves larger farms or agri-business fi...

27/11/2025

Driving Farmer Access to Climate-Smart Irrigation Through Market Linkages

Farmers in GVH Tsachiti under TA Kalumbu have long faced water stress and lacked affordable irrigation options, limiting productivity and income. Today marks the beginning of change, as the community is empowered with both knowledge and access to irrigation technology.

Palladium has partnered with Thanthwe Enterprises to train 13 of their lead farmers from Tsachiti Producer Group as trainers of this high-efficiency mini drip irrigation technology.

This new partnership delivers the skills to local growers to install and manage the technology, and train their peers.

But this is more than training-- it’s a market-driven approach to resilience and productivity. From this partnership, Thanthwe is able to offer drip kits to their growers via a loan.

Yamikani Senala, one of the newly trained trainers said “I’ve admired this technology since I first saw it at Thanthwe. Now, through this program, I finally have the chance to own one and I believe it will change everything for me.”

GVH Mlamba - Efrida Nyadani also joined the training and pledged to buy kits for her garden: “My village will never be the same!”

26/11/2025

Community Leaders Trained to Drive Green Transformation in One of Malawi’s Critical Watersheds

Did you know?

Hard-coated seeds can stay dormant for a long time, but soaking them softens the coat and speeds up germination.

Tips like these are some of the things communities are learning with support from Palladium. Proper nursery care is the foundation for healthy seedlings and successful environmental restoration. Through the Community Nurseries Entrepreneurship Program, Palladium’s Malawi Growth Poles Project, in collaboration with the Lilongwe Water Board and the Embassy of Ireland, is building local capacity to turn nurseries into sustainable enterprises while restoring degraded landscapes.

Over the last few days, Palladium’s Resilience Specialist Tressica Kaduya led Training of Trainers (TOT) on nursery care and management for 104 Catchment Management Committee (CMC) members from 10 GVHs, who will carry the knowledge to 50 community-based nurseries across the Lilongwe River Catchment.

Follow our journey as these communities take the lead in restoring and protecting Malawi’s critical landscapes while adding new livelihood streams!

21/11/2025

🚨We’re hiring!

Join Palladium’s Growth Poles Project 2.0 in Lilongwe, Malawi, and contribute to accelerating inclusive, sustainable wealth creation. We’re looking for experienced professionals in monitoring, evaluation, and learning to support data quality audits, surveys, GIS analysis, qualitative studies, and more. If you qualify and have a passion for impact, please apply by November 28, 2025 (17:00 CAT) through the link below:

https://careersmw.com/job/short-term-mel-consultants/