Programme Manager - Building Future Generations

Porticus is a philanthropic organization that aims to create a just and sustainable future where human dignity flourishes. Our work aims to strengthen the resilience of communities so that all people have ownership over their future and natural resources are used in a sustainable way. Our work is realized through strong networks of partners including local and global NGOs, communities, people with lived experience, policy makers and co-funders. With colleagues based in 14 offices around the world in six regions, we want to provide solutions to today’s social and environmental problems that benefit generations to come in four areas: the natural environment, society, education and faith.

In close collaboration with our partners, we design initiatives that contribute to systems-change and benefit future generations in the following Sectors:

• Strengthening our Societies – making sure all people have agency to lead self-determined lives and contribute to their communities through social justice
• Building Future Generations – strengthening education systems to nurture social and emotional learning, especially for children in extreme adversity
• Caring for the Earth – ensuring a fair transition to a sustainable future
• Fostering Vital Faith Communities – enable the Catholic Church as a force for good in the world

In each of these Sectors, Porticus’ focus areas include specific global social and environmental Challenges.

Porticus is seeking a Programme Manager to support and monitor the development of strategic programmes in the Latin America region within the the Building Future Generations Sector (BFG). The time dedication will be split between the Children on the Margins Challenge in Brazil and Peru, and the Knowledge Centre globally. The PM will also have a smaller portion of time dedicated to one of the topics covered by the Latin America Region. 

Building Future Generations Sector Strategy

Vision: A world where whole child development is a force for inclusion for children in

extreme adversity, enabling them to develop to their full potential and succeed in life.

Social Change Goal: Children in extreme adversity build resilience and socio-emotional skills as a key enabler for them to learn and develop to their full potential.

Porticus is fully committed to supporting the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4 – ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’ – by 2030. Our contribution to this has focused on supporting systems to integrate the principle and vision of Whole Child Development.

We see resilience/ socio-emotional learning (SEL)/psycho-social support (PSS) as a critical building block, especially for children in extreme adversity who are often dealing with trauma and toxic stress, to enable engagement in meaningful learning and unlock opportunities for children to engage in the full breadth of education to fulfil their potential. We want to focus on efforts that will support the integration of resilience/SEL/PSS to be prioritized, assessed and delivered within systems. This focus will cut across our two new challenges: Children on the Margins and Children in Displacement over the next 4 to 5-years.

In this role specific priority will lie under the Children on the Margins challenge.

Children on the Margin Challenge

One in five children are thought to be “on the margin” of school systems, and 11% of children currently in school will drop-out before they reach the final grade. SEL is vital for all children, but especially for children who face fear, trauma and adversity – typically the children that education systems, despite good intentions, fail to support. Porticus’ Children on the Margins Challenge aspires to shift the mindsets and unequal power dynamics that normalise some children being on the margin of education systems, and to support the implementation of the tools and approaches that will nurture SEL.

Porticus Latin America currently has programmatic work in education in Brazil and Peru. The programme in Brazil is in its first phase, while the programme in Peru is already on a second phase, based on learnings from the previous Horizontes Programme.

In both countries, the geography prioritized is the Amazon region, with particular focus on children from indigenous, Quilombola or riverine origins, due to their historical neglect by the formal education system. 

Knowledge Center

As part of our overall BFG strategy, Porticus is supporting a shared research fund to strengthen the evidence base on SEL in Foundational Learning. The goal is that more practical research is available to support practitioners, and a future Systematic Review addresses SEL at scale for Global South contexts, populations and needs. An external and experienced Programme Director has been hired to lead this work from October 2025. The Prorgamme Manager role for which we are hiring will have the responsibilities of:

• Liaising with the external Programme Director and the administrative staff of the pooled fund to manage day to day relationships
• Supporting the BFG Sector Director and Challenge Leads as a sounding board for the strategic direction of the knowledge centre
• Lead on Porticus grant-management to the pooled fund
• Ensuring coordination between the BFG team and external Programme Director

Region-specific philanthropy

Besides the 4 Sectors which are global priorities, Porticus also supports contextually relevant topics. Currently the Latin American team is focused on Democratic Innovation, Climate Justice and Strategic Philanthropy. It is expected that the PM dedicates 20% of time for this work.

Key Responsibilities

Program implementation

• In collaboration with the Senior Programme Managers, develops and follows-up the implementation of grants that aim for systemic and lasting changes in alignment with the respective Challenge strategy.
• Applies meaningful participation approaches to the extent possible Grant making, from co-developing applications with prospective partners, to accompanying the implementing, monitoring progress against objectives and ensuring successful closure.
• Works closely with other areas of Porticus (such as Grant Operations, 360 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning) to ensure all parts of the grantmaking – from grant approval, contract signing, payment, analysis of progress reports and final assessment – happens smoothly and as scheduled.
• Supports SrPM on the convening of programme partners and other key stakeholders, particularly to build the field and enable shared learnings amongst partners and cohesion.
• Applies Gender and Inclusion lenses to grant development and management.
• Ensures cohesiveness between local partnerships in Latin America and global partners within the respective Challenge – help to drive global solutions locally, while ensuring local voices and solutions are brought to the global stage.

Exploration

• Coordinates with the Challenge Lead and/or the Regional Director in identifying opportunities for strategy-aligned partnerships and manages grants for exploration in the Latin America region and where possible contributing to the BFG sector, with clear attention to the learning cycle within which these ideas are developing.

Contextualisation

• In collaboration with Latin America Regional Director, the BFG Sector Senior Programme Managers and respective Challenge Lead, enables sense making when it comes to strategic decisions related to the Challenges and Regional work. 
• Works towards building grant ideas that are regionally contextual, but globally relevant and cohesive to sectoral/cross-thematic work, nudging the discourse further within the ecosystem.
• Continuously analyses opportunities, momentum, trends and challenges related to the sector and/or region they are responsible for.
• Develops knowledge on region and/or challenge related topics and participates in related expert network.

Partnership and other Stakeholders' Management

• Builds and manages a trust-based strategic partnerships, vets and conducts due-diligence on potential grantees.
• Manages active partnerships and supports SrPMs in dialogues on emerging and critical issues.
• Understands the role and value of local Latin America partners as contributing to the overall strategic intent of the BFG Sector and Regional strategies.
• Builds bridges between partners active across the regions, aiming at generating safe spaces for exchange of knowledge and information.
• Contributes to annual reflection cycles, including to annual operational planning with input, discussion and managing the integration of learning objectives.
• Prepares communication material in collaboration with communication colleagues, for internal and external use.

• 5+ years of work experience in Latin America education field, preferably at philanthropy or other funder organizations. 
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written. Fluency in Portuguese, English, and Spanish is compulsory to be considered for the role.
• Experience with knowledge management, research or evidence generation, and synthesizing information, with the ability to clearly communicate key insights to different audiences, will be considered an asset.
• High interpersonal and relationship-building skills, aligned with experience acting as bridge-builder between internal and external audiences.
• Relevant work on philanthropy, program design and development, systems, networking, and community change.
• Experience of and commitment to, working with and through partners and contributing to partnership strategies.
• Experience with strategy, monitoring, evaluation and learning (SMEL) and working with other technical advisors and research teams to establish effective monitoring systems in relation to programme activities.
• Ability to multi-task and set priorities and be an effective collaborator in a complex internal and external environment, including the ability to work with efficiency and tact in a matrixed environment.

What we offer

• A 40-hours a week full time contract. Being based in São Paulo is strictly required.
• Salary ranging from 170.000 to 270.000 BRL per year on a full-time basis, based on experience and skills.
• Hybrid working opportunity: our guidelines allow for up to 60% remote work.
• Take advantage of our Flexible Working Guidelines and work up to 10 days per year from abroad, anywhere in the world.
• Domestic and International travel is part of the job, estimation is on average 6-8 times annually.
• Comprehensive benefits package (incl. holidays, volunteering days, learning budget...)
• This role reports to the Regional Director for Latin America, and is also part of the Building Future Generations global team, under the technical supervision of Challenge Lead.

We stand for equal opportunities and are deeply committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse team in an equitable and inclusive environment. We strongly encourage applications of people with lived experience, as well as of candidates coming from any minority or underrepresented groups.

To apply: please upload your CV and cover letter – in English - as soon as possible. This vacancy will remain open for a few weeks or until we have sufficient applications from qualified candidates. 

Process: Reference checks and a written assessment can be part of the procedure.