Last month, on the 22nd April, saw the launch of a new project management certification for the International Development (or NGO) sector. The PMD Pro (Project Management in Development for Professionals) is a certification for project managers working in development agencies. The new scheme has been developed by LINGOs specifically for those working in charities, humanitarian agencies and not-for-profit organisations.
Chris Chattaway
The launch (held at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations) saw a short presentation from Richard Pharro from APMG, who were responsible for developing and hosting the examination. John Cropper, Programme Manager at Oxfam and Chris Cattaway from Global Achievement gave the overview of the certification.
Back in 2007, a need was identified to control overspend and improve efficiency in projects delivered in the international development sector. From that day, the PM4NGOs group (Project Management for Non-Governmental Organisations) started the journey of developing a project management certification which would specifically help project managers to deliver projects successfully.
One of the major challenges faced by NGO Project Managers is that different organisations – and even different departments within the same organisation – have their own methodologies and terminology. This lack of consistency has made it difficult to assess the competency of both new recruits and long-term NGO employees.
The PM4NGOs (consisting of a group of international relief, development, and conservation organisations) found that “just a 1% improvement in effectiveness would yield an additional $47m to spend on projects.” The group, working in a voluntary capacity have launched the PMD Pro Level 1 initially. PMD Pro Level 1 is a certification focused on contextualising both project management and knowledge of NGOs, the intention is that the Level 1 certification starts people on the route to professional project management in the development sector.
The PMD Pro Levels
The material for the PMD Pro Level 1 is available free of charge to download from the PM4NGOs website, along with e-learning and classroom based training. Current work is ongoing to bring further webinars, coaching and communities for learning as additional resources for learning. There is also an exam available (pricing is in line with the sector, ranging from $20 to $120) which can be taken online through the APMG website (which includes a sample paper)
So at the moment, the launch incorporates Level 1, looking at the PMD Pro Levels triangle above, there are plans to develop at least two more levels. The thinking behind the PMDPro2 and 3 Industry areas are that these will tie into the products that are already available, namely PRINCE2, MSP etc. This is interesting because one of my concerns were just how does PRINCE2 and MSP fit into the development world of projects? After the launch I spent alot of time talking to John Cropper from Oxfam about the development of the intial qualification and also how the development of the PMDPro would work. It’s clear from the way John describes his senior level role within Oxfam that actually there is a place for a more structured approach to project management. Not all who work within the development sector are based in the field, good project managers are also required to oversee large ongoing relief campaigns (working behind the scenes, enabling relief to reach far flung corners of the world) and also for projects like supply chain management and internal process development. In other words, the relief agencies and organisations also need good project management skills internally to allow their organisations to get better at what they do and ultimately increased effectiveness means more $$ for projects on the ground.
So what next? You can take a look at the materials on the PM4NGOs website and the examination materials on the APMG website. There are also a few training courses happening around the world and a call for other organisations who may be interested in getting involved in running training sessions. And this is what I like, the whole development and roll out is so suited to the development sector. It’s not about slick marketing materials and corporate training budgets, this is about improving the capability of people who work in the field, running projects every day who want to improve on how they get the job done. Well done to the people involved in developing this, they’ve done it on a voluntary basis working as a group and initial feedback has shown that it has been welcomed and useful for the community. You can see the whole presentation from the launch here.
ONLINE LAUNCH OF PMD PRO – Take Part in the Online Launch on 11th/12th May
PM4NGOs. LINGOs and APMG-International are co-hosting two on-line events to launch the PMD Pro certification. The events will take place using the Elluminate on-line meeting platform and are scheduled at different times to accommodate participants in locations around the world:
May 11th – 1:00PM EDT (New York time) www.timeanddate.com
May 12th – 09:00AM GMT (London time) www.timeanddate.com
URL: https://sas.elluminate.com/d.jnlp?sid=vclass&password=S209OXL5WGXPVG3LK5NS
Pre-Registration is not required to attend the events. However, It is highly recommended that all participants test their computers at www.elluminate.com/support/ within 24 hours of the session to ensure they are able to join the session.
