Programme Manager

**Company Description**
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 responsibil