Position: Project Mid-Term Evaluation Consultant

No of Positions: 1

Duration of consultancy: Three months

Location: Remote (Consultant to be based in-country; Malaysia preferred)

Application Deadline: 30 April 2026

The Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW) invites experienced evaluators based in Malaysia, to apply for this consultancy.

The assignment will be conducted remotely and will require regular coordination and progress reporting with the ARROW team.

Background

The Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) is a regional non-profit women’s and young people’s organisation based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and has consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Established in 1993, ARROW works across the region to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and gender equality through research, evidence-based advocacy, capacity strengthening, and community mobilisation. Our vision is an equal, just and equitable world, where every woman and young person enjoys their full sexual and reproductive rights.

ARROW seeks an independent consultant to conduct a mid-term evaluation of the “Strengthening Capacities Towards Inclusive Development Pathways: A Crucial Pivot To Development in Malaysia” (Gender Equality Initiative – Phase 2) project funded by the European Union.

This project is currently in Year 4 of a 5-year grant. It is implemented in Kelantan, Perak, Sabah, Selangor, and at the federal level, and aims to strengthen an enabling environment for women, girls, young people, and gender diverse persons to participate meaningfully in national development and democratic processes, contributing to the acceleration of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Malaysia.

The objectives of the project are as follows:

1. Strengthening access to gender responsive and rights-based services through progressive systems change advocacy and access to services.
2. Enabling women’s, girls’, young people’s and gender diverse persons’ meaningful participation in national development and democratic processes and enabling a wide range of Malaysian CSOs to be included in the decision-making structures around these processes.
3. Strengthening capacities of decision makers at state and federal levels to uphold rights-based, accountable and transparent governance in sustainable development.

Implemented with partners Reproductive Health Association of Kelantan, SEED Foundation, Justice for Sisters, Kemban Kolektif, and People Like Us Hang Out, the project includes:

• Development of multilingual toolkits and resources
• Feedback mechanisms and monitoring tools to assess service quality and inclusivity
• Networking among inclusive and queer-affirming service providers
• Community capacity building across target states
• Capacity strengthening of CSOs on advocacy and thematic issues
• Media sensitisation for journalists and social media influencers
• Research, monitoring, and evidence generation on SDG commitments (SDG 1, 3, 5, 10, 16), including monitoring reports and advocacy briefs

Purpose of the Evaluation

The mid-term evaluation will:

• Assess the project implementation (2023-2024) and its relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and progress towards impact, with gender equality and human rights as cross-cutting lenses.
• Examine progress towards achieving project objectives at mid-point implementation.
• Analyse implementation strategies, partnerships, and coordination mechanisms.
• Measure quantitative and qualitative outcomes for target groups and beneficiaries.
• Identify key challenges, gaps, risks, and mitigation measures, including adaptations made in response to climate-related constraints.
• Document lessons learned and emerging good practices, particularly in advancing gender equality, SRHR, harmful practices and violence prevention.
• Provide actionable recommendations to strengthen implementation for the remaining project period.

Scope of work

The consultant will be expected to:

• Develop and implement a Mid-Term Evaluation Work Plan, including methodology, data collection tools, sampling, and analysis framework.
• Conduct desk reviews, consultations, interviews, and/or other data collection methods as appropriate.
• Maintain regular communication with ARROW, project partners, and relevant stakeholders.
• Produce interim updates and a comprehensive final evaluation report.
• Present evaluation findings and recommendations to ARROW and partners.
• Adapt the evaluation approach as needed in response to emerging findings or stakeholder feedback.

Key Deliverables

• Work plan
• Evaluation inception report
• Interim progress update(s)
• Draft and final evaluation report
• Presentation of key findings and recommendations

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in project/programme evaluation, preferably for donor-funded initiatives.
• Familiarity with rights-based and gender-responsive evaluation approaches including the OECD evaluation framework .
• Experience working with women’s organisations, CSOs, or development programmes is an asset.
• Professional training or certifications in evaluation, research methods, or data analysis is desirable.

Skills

• Strong analytical and report-writing skills
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills
• Proficiency in qualitative and/or quantitative data analysis tools

Submission Requirements

Interested applicants should submit the following documents:

• A Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a cover letter outlining relevant qualifications, skills, and examples of previous evaluation work, including two professional references (minimum 2 pages).
• A proposal, including the proposed evaluation approach and a detailed budget/quotation in MYR. The budget should account for any required field-based evaluation activities and include copy-editing costs, specifically the engagement of a professional copy editor for the final evaluation report.

Submit via email with the subject line: APPLICATION: ARROW Mid-term Project Evaluation Consultant (GEI Project) to Sharmilah Rajendran (sharmilah@arrow.org.my), Programme Officer, and Shamala Chandrasekaran (shamala@arrow.org.my), Programme Manager, by 30 April 2026.

ARROW is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and encourages applications from qualified evaluators with lived or professional experience working on gender equality, SRHR, and marginalised communities.