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    Which project management training is right for you?

    With a wealth of project management certifications out there, it can be overwhelming to figure out which one is best for you. We break down the pros and cons of some of the most popular project management trainings for development professionals.

    By Lottie Watters // 25 February 2019
    Project management certifications offer the skills to successfully see a project through from start to finish. But with a wealth of project management courses out there, it can be overwhelming to figure out which course is best — particularly as many courses are designed for the private sector. Different certifications — such as PMP, PRINCE2, and PMD Pro — vary in methodology, complexity, and time required to complete them. It is therefore key to select training best-suited to your field and line of work. “It is important to do your own research on the development area, industry, or specialist profession you are in or aiming for. Once you have done that, you will have narrowed down the options and should choose the methodology that you feel comfortable with,” said Dave Bain, senior project manager at New Zealand Christchurch City Council, who has completed the PMP, PRINCE2, and Lean Six Sigma courses. Certified project managers have the potential to earn more than their noncertified peers, Bain also explained. Most certification providers offer a core training handbook and only require passing one final exam based on that information. In order to prepare for the exam, a number of providers offer guided courses, or instead you can study for the exam yourself. Courses are run by experienced trainers which can be a great tool and resource to prepare you. They can also be pricey, however, so it’s an additional cost to factor in. “The key for anyone taking on the training is to be prepared to make the time commitment to study outside of any course time you do. You need to be prepared to complete up to 15 hours per week of study in order to do well in the exams. If you are working full time and have a family, this can be a challenge,” Bain wrote in a follow-up email to Devex. Here, we break down some of the most popular project management courses — PMP, PRINCE2, and PMD Pro — recommended by global development professionals, including the pros and cons, and insights from those who’ve completed them. The top three Project Management Professional Cost: Member, $405; Nonmember, $555 PMP is one of the most recognized project management certifications globally and can be applied to any industry or location. “PMP has wide international coverage across a wide range of employers,” Bain explained. “It establishes the processes you need to follow [and] it ... sets you up with a really robust framework to work from.” It’s one of the more extensive project management certifications — making it beneficial in terms of skills gained; but also more demanding. It has a number of prerequisites including a secondary degree or higher; 4,500–7,500 hours experience leading and directing projects; and 35 hours of project management education. “Studying for the certification is very in-depth and very intense — and a very grueling exam,” said Kemoy Liburd-Chow, counselor at the Embassy of St. Kitts and Nevis in the United States. It also requires completion of 60 professional development units every three years to maintain your certification, resulting in added time and cost. PMP teaches the waterfall project management approach — following a strict linear process where each phase has to be completed before moving onto the next — which may not always be appropriate for every project, Bain explained. Instead, an agile approach — which allows for continued adaptation to problems as they arise — can be better. Bain is considering an agile certification to add to his project management skill set, and PRINCE2 now offers Agile certifications. PRINCE2 Cost: $550+ There are different types — PRINCE2 and PRINCE2 Agile — and levels — foundation, practitioner, or the two combined — of the PRINCE2 project management certifications and the costs vary accordingly. PRINCE2 is a method in its own right for managing projects and PRINCE2 Agile is a more flexible and scalable version. The foundation level offers an understanding of the basics of PRINCE2 project management, whereas the practitioner level provides you with the ability to apply and tailor the relevant aspects and principles in context. There are no formal prerequisites for the foundation qualification, though you should have some understanding of project management. You must have passed the foundation exam — or one of the other specified project management trainings — prior to taking the practitioner examination. PRINCE2 is also well-known and internationally recognized and can be used across a variety of industries. Some suggested it was simpler than other trainings, including PMP: “PRINCE2 has a very simple framework. It does just as well [as PMP] in setting up the basics when you’re involved in a very simple project,” Bain said. Crucially, it’s not well-suited to development work and is more relevant to the IT or economic sectors, explained Darren Talbot, director of D2i Management. “It doesn’t work very well at all when you’re in a very fluid environment … if something goes wrong and you need to be able to sort it out in the next two hours,” Talbot said. “It goes into far too much detail and it’s far too descriptive.” It is also a costly option compared to other certifications below. To maintain registered practitioner status, you have to retake the practitioner exam every 3 years or record 20 continued professional development points annually. PMD Pro Cost: $22+ on sliding scale Unlike PMP and PRINCE2, PMD Pro was specifically designed for development professionals with the input of a number of NGOs and is accredited by APMG International, explained John Cropper, program management and humanitarian lead at Humentum and vice-chair of PM4NGOs, who helped design the curriculum. There are three different levels: PMD Pro Level 1, PMD Pro Level 2, and PgMD Pro, equating to foundation, practitioner, and definitive certification respectively. PRINCE2, PMP, and other certifications that were available prior to PMD Pro were not contextualized for development, in addition to being expensive and only available in certain locations — mainly the developed world — a lot of the learning materials were also private sector-focused, Cropper explained. PMP and PRINCE2, are “great, but they’re very comprehensive,” he said, adding that they are difficult to apply to the development sector. Instead, the aim of PMD Pro is to make project management “accessible, appropriate, affordable, and actionable” for development professionals, Cropper said, adding that much of the PMD Pro content is available for free online. It’s available in nine languages and is also significantly more affordable than other certifications — the cost is based on a sliding scale depending on your location and employment status. There are no prerequisites to undergo the PMD Pro Level 1 certification, but it’s helpful to have a real-world project in mind, Cropper advised. “When you’re looking at the tools and techniques, if you can apply those to a real project, it makes it a little bit easier and a bit more real,” he said. To do PMD Pro Level 2, you first need to have completed Level 1. Cropper recommended taking an initial look at the free PMD Pro Starter as that might offer enough information for professionals, without having to do the full certification. Obtaining the certification offers you project management tools specific to the development sector, including how to write a logical framework and a monitoring and evaluation plan. PMD Pro utilizes six project management disciplines and equips you with the tools and mechanisms to manage them. These comprise scope management, time management, project resource management, risk management, project justification management, and stakeholder management. “I absolutely recommend it for development professionals,” said Abdulmalik Abubakar, program management assistant with the U.S. Agency for International Development. But despite PMD Pro proving very useful for his career, Abubakar is planning on completing the PMP certification too. “It [PMP] is more highly recognized than PMD Pro,” he said. However, Cropper maintained that PMD Pro is more recognized within the development sector. Equally, “I would recommend it [PMD Pro], but it is important to understand that this is just an introduction to the different possibilities in project management. To be ready to apply the tools in your career, it would be necessary to study more and seek a deeper understanding on the topics,” Nathalia Gomes, social project consultant at Instituto da Criança, wrote in a message to Devex. There is nothing contradictory in PMD Pro to any other project management certification, so it can be complemented with another, Cropper explained. Alternative options Other project management certifications teach different approaches that are better suited to specific fields, such as Capacity WORKS, which was designed for cooperation systems and developed by the German development agency GIZ; Lean Six Sigma for service and technology organizations; and RICS for surveying. “The best approach is to mix and match … while there are specific parts of individual accreditations that can help, overall it’s about finding the best mix for the work that you’re doing.” --— Dave Bain, senior project manager, New Zealand Christchurch City Council For those not yet ready or able to invest in one of these high-profile certifications, there are numerous less intensive alternatives available. Online courses are a good grounding to learn the basics skills and background to project management if you’re not looking for certified status. The Humanitarian Leadership Academy offers a number of courses through its education platform Kaya; the United Nations Children’s Fund has a free online portal, Agora, with training courses including the Management Masterclass Programme; and Disaster Ready, Coursera, edX, and HREA all have online courses available. Alison Courses offers an online Diploma in Project Management which Camlus Odhus, health officer at UNICEF, undertook. “It’s not a very well-known or globally recognized course or certification … I mostly did it to gain the knowledge and not really for the recognition,” he said. “If someone was looking for recognition then I think they would rather go for Prince and PMP and the like,” Odhus added. There are also many benefits to gaining multiple project management qualifications and being able to apply the most appropriate skills depending on the stage and needs of a project, Bain emphasized. “The best approach is to mix and match … whilst there are specific parts of individual accreditations that can help, overall it’s about finding the best mix for the work that you’re doing,” Bain advised. Having a mix of skill sets and project management tools to utilize is extremely helpful, “especially in the development world and disaster recovery, being flexible and being able to change depending on the situation you find yourself in,” Bain said.

    Project management certifications offer the skills to successfully see a project through from start to finish. But with a wealth of project management courses out there, it can be overwhelming to figure out which course is best — particularly as many courses are designed for the private sector.

    Different certifications — such as PMP, PRINCE2, and PMD Pro — vary in methodology, complexity, and time required to complete them. It is therefore key to select training best-suited to your field and line of work.

    “It is important to do your own research on the development area, industry, or specialist profession you are in or aiming for. Once you have done that, you will have narrowed down the options and should choose the methodology that you feel comfortable with,” said Dave Bain, senior project manager at New Zealand Christchurch City Council, who has completed the PMP, PRINCE2, and Lean Six Sigma courses.

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    About the author

    • Lottie Watters

      Lottie Watters

      Lottie Watters formerly covered career and hiring trends, tips, and insights. Lottie has a background in geography and journalism, taking a particular interest in grassroots international development projects. She has worked with organizations delivering clean water and sanitation projects globally.

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