Senior Programme Manager – Strengthening Our Societies at Porticus

As part of the People on the Move Challenge team member and member of the Porticus Africa Team key responsibilities will entail:

Leadership 

• Contribute to thought leadership in the region and globally to influence and push the field towards higher impact and systemic change. 
• Work closely with other regional Programme Managers in the Africa region and in the People on the Move teams to implement well-coordinated global programmes, promote innovative and equitable grant-making practices and encourage learning.

Exploration in Africa 

• Identify opportunities for strategy-aligned projects and programmes and manage regional exploration grants in Africa and where possible contribute to aligned sectors with clear attention to the learning cycle within which these ideas are developing. 
• Contribute to interregional engagement and collaboration by actively supporting Porticus as a Learning organisation, by sharing knowledge, experiences across the matrix and sectors. 

Contextualisation 

• In collaboration with the Porticus Africa Regional Director, enable sense making when it comes to strategic decisions related to a challenge, programme challenge-related work or the sector. 
• Internally and externally represent the region, demonstrating knowledge of the region and context within which we work and identify possibilities for sectoral/cross thematic work, in shaping discourse within the ecosystem. 
• Continuously analyse and monitor developments in the field to identify emerging trends, needs, gaps and opportunities in the region and/or challenge related topics. 

Programme Design and implementation under the People on the Move Challenge 

• Lead on the management and implementation of the MOVE and Immigration Detention Programmes in South Africa, in collaboration and consultation with equivalent post holders in other regions and with the Portfolio Manager/Challenge Lead. 
• Provide co-leadership with the Europe Programme Manager for the MOVE programme.
• Contribute to increased evidence and learning about current practices in raising the quality and effectiveness of our work by supporting programmatic research and analysis, programmatic evaluations and share results and learnings internally and externally.
• Identify opportunities for innovative, data driven, contextualised programmatic strategies that contribute to field building, (pushing the thematic discourse further), nurturing networks (outside of grants, with funders, thought leaders, practitioners and other system stakeholders), creating platforms and drawing in lessons and learnings (beyond reporting). 
• Identify and develop partnerships that aim for systemic and lasting changes in alignment with challenge strategies and lead the implementation of these programmes, including but not limited to: 
• Applying meaningful participation approach to the extent possible in all stages of the programme grant making from co-developing applications with partners to accompanying the implementing and closing.
• Convening programme partners and other key stakeholders.
• Applying sophisticated safeguarding and GESI lenses to programme development and management.

Storytelling 

• Contribute to the knowledge base of Porticus by regularly sharing insights and knowledge coming out of the programmatic work internally and externally. 
• Provide inputs to meetings with the Society Investment Committee as required. 
• Engage in relevant fora and champion the work of partners.
• Prepare communication material in collaboration with communication colleagues. 

Building and Maintaining Relationships 

• Develop, strengthen and maintain strategic partnerships, in close cooperation with the Porticus Africa Regional Director and Challenge Leads. 
• Build and manage trust-based strategic partnerships and engage in strategic dialogue on emerging and critical issues with diverse networks in Africa and globally. 
• Understands the role and value of partners as contributing to the overall strategic intent. 
• As part of the Challenge team, contribute to regular meetings, the organisation’s annual reflection learning cycles with input, discussion and apply learning for course-correction and future programming.
• Contribute and integrate non-financial contribution to partners such as capacity building on fundraising and identifying co-funders in grant management.

Experience and requirements

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of a Master’s Degree in a relevant discipline.
• At least 10 years of programme professional experience within philanthropy or international development sectors at the international or regional level.  Experience working in South Africa is an added advantage. 
• Strong and relevant networks and contacts within the Society sector in Africa with an emphasis on East and Southern Africa. 
•  Experience of and commitment to, working with and through partners and contributing to partnership strategies.
• A broad background with comprehensive understanding of programme design, development and implementation as well as systems change, networking and community change.
• 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.

Competencies and Skills 

• Commitment to living the Porticus’ culture and to transparency and open exchange, generating trust among colleagues and reinforcing Porticus culture and values (modesty, empathy, endurance and trust) in external engagements.
• Commitment to addressing power dynamics in philanthropic partners in grant making.   
• Strong in building and maintaining networks. Adaptability to changing contexts. 
• Strong analytical and project management skills, able to break down and solve complex problems and present these to internal and external stakeholders. 
• Ability to accurate     ly assess situations and find appropriate solutions to generate impact.  
• 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.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including a proven track record to convey information using supporting tables, graphs, and other visual representations; Experience in the use of database and analytics solutions such as Salesforce and Power BI is an added advantage.
• Ability to work and interact with people from diverse, professional, social and cultural backgrounds.
• Demonstrated excellent professional communication skills and fluency in written and oral English.