Portfolio Manager – Africa

Role Overview

This role steers a multi-country project portfolio for Hivos, keeping initiatives aligned, well-designed, and focused on measurable results. Day to day, the Portfolio Manager Africa works with programme teams to sharpen project concepts, guide delivery, and connect advocacy, reporting, and risk management to organisational strategy. The position matters because it turns strategy into coherent action across Southern, Eastern, Western, and Central Africa, while helping the organisation learn from evidence and meet its accountability commitments.

Key Responsibilities

• Keep assigned projects pulling in the same strategic direction, checking that each initiative advances Hivos’ thematic priorities and country-level objectives.
• Shape project design and proposal ideas by translating strategy into thematically grounded concepts and practical workstream plans.
• Read political, social, and economic shifts across the assigned African countries, then translate them into practical guidance for programme direction and adaptation.
• Build and test advocacy approaches, run or co-run advocacy events and activities, and show how project-level wins contribute to broader programme goals.
• Produce reports and presentations that distil progress, data patterns, and lessons for colleagues, donors, and partners.
• Keep a live view of portfolio risks, issues, and interdependencies, and coordinate the mitigation steps and stakeholder conversations they require.
• Guide project closeouts, contribute to funding bids, and help teams put audit recommendations and emerging good practices into everyday use.
• Line-manage or supervise local and regional project managers, distribute assignments, feed into performance reviews, and flag any breaches of organisational policy.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Master’s degree in business, law, development, public administration, or an equivalent discipline.
• Ten or more years in regional and/or international programme management, showing that you can think strategically in complex settings and lead and supervise staff effectively.
• A track record of managing both projects and budgets, raising resources, and preparing funding proposals ranging from small bids to large-scale submissions.
• Fluency in planning projects, reporting on progress, and deciding what should come first when demands compete.
• Experience coordinating requirements, guiding change processes, and supporting continuous improvement work.
• A demonstrated ability to craft advocacy strategies that work, spot openings for influence, and connect results and lessons to wider programme outcomes.
• Working knowledge of the political, social, and economic contexts across Southern, Eastern, Western, and Central African countries and territories.
• Comfort analysing project data, turning it into insight, and using contemporary project management tools.
• Skill in engaging stakeholders, managing expectations, working through resistance, and handling problems as they arise.
• Excellent organisation and problem-solving skills, with clear writing and speaking ability.
• Fluent English; French would be a valuable additional language.