Seattle, WA (PRWEB) May 06, 2015
LINGOs (http://lingos.org/), a non-profit organization focused on certified project management training for international aid and non-government organization (NGO) workers, today announced that 10,000 workers across 70 countries have completed the NGO sector’s leading project management certification, PMD Pro. In recognition of this milestone, LINGOs released a report detailing both the challenges humanitarian and development workers face when managing complex projects around the world as well as how PMD Pro has empowered them with a much-needed common and accessible approach to project management. Benefits of PMDPro include improved project design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
The end of 2015 will mark a watershed moment for the global development community. NGOs, donors, governments and international organizations are set to plot a new course for sustainable development beyond the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With ambitious new goals, there will be an even greater need for transparency and accountability, creating demand for new project management tools. Without these tools, it is increasingly difficult to manage in a more complex environment, with many partners and collaborators, and ensure project milestone and completion dates are met, resources are mobilized effectively, and risks are identified and managed.
With NGOs managing projects in places where nobody else will go, LINGOs convened a working group of several international NGOs and private sector experts such as the Project Management Institute to create PMD Pro, a project management capacity certification specifically designed by international NGOs for all development workers to provide tools to better monitor and evaluate projects, goals and outcomes. The certification is owned and managed by the non-profit PM4NGOs with an express vision to maintain an open and accessible body of knowledge and certification with which any organization can design its own training materials. For example, LINGOs has created open and free online learning modules, available to anyone, and offered in five languages.
“International development requires funders, NGOs, and governments to work together to not only offer funding, but to equip knowledgeable and capable aid workers with the skills they need to realize our goals of creating a world where access to education, life-saving medicines and clean water and food are the norm,” said Chris Proulx, President and CEO of LINGOs. “By providing our sector’s professionals with a common language of project management through the PMD Pro certification, we are helping to foster more responsiveness and collaboration both within an NGO and among international, national, and local organizations. By implementing these standards we are helping to reduce the complexity that is commonly inherent in international development projects to allow NGO professionals to do their jobs more effectively.”
The recently released report, PMD Pro Forward Making the World Better One Project at a Time, further highlights the many challenges international development and NGO workers face when managing various projects is available at http://www.pmdproforward.org. The report stated that in the absence of a common framework, project planning, implementation, monitoring, change management and project closure were common challenges. Craig Redmond, Senior Vice President of Programs at Mercy Corps said, "Project Management represents a fundamental set of skills. If we don't do project management right, nothing else is possible. PMD Pro and our own Program Management at Mercy Corps Initiative are finally giving us a common language that has been missing for many years."
In response to these challenges, the report further highlighted the significant impact that the PMD Pro certification has provided, including delivering improved project outcomes, promoting local partnerships to assist with project implementation, increasing the accessibility of training in the hardest to reach places, and fostering even stronger control over project costs. The report concluded with a powerful call-to-action. “We will continue to build on the success of PMD Pro by setting new standards for project management in international development. This will be achieved as multiple development actors—NGOs, civil society organizations and governments—come on board, and through sustained local capacity building, effective partnerships with donors and further translation of the course into other languages.”
About LINGOs
LINGOs, a non-profit organization, is the international NGO sector’s largest membership-based consortium dedicated solely to training and capacity building. It has a membership of over 80 international humanitarian relief, development, conservation and social justice organizations. LINGOs has been a leader in curating, developing, and disseminating appropriate learning and development tools, technology and content to over 50,000 NGO staff in developing countries since 2004. The PMD Pro certification, in particular, provides project managers and team members working in the international development sector with training on the skills and tools need to successfully manage their projects.
About PM4NGOs
PM4NGOs is an international NGO that promotes and sustains the professionalism of program and project management in the international development sector and is the owner of PMD Pro. PM4NGOs is in the process of developing the PMD Pro Level 3 certification and guide and certification for Program Management.
For more information, visit pmdproforward.org or http://www.lingos.org. For media inquiries, contact Cari Sommer, Sommer Communications Group, 646-480-7683.