Not that it feels much like June, with all the rain, but at least we’re not officially in drought any more. Here’s the June project news round up.
PMD Pro Level 2 Launch
In 2010 PMD Pro Level 1, a qualification aimed at project managers working in the development sector, was launched. You can watch my video of the PMD Pro launch here. That certification has now been taken over 2000 times
Now those project managers have the chance to take a higher level qualification. This includes a contextualised exam and a recognised industry certification such as CAPM, IPMA Level D or PRINCE2® Foundation.
John Cropper, from LINGOs, one the of PM4NGOs group, said, “Although PMD Pro can’t make poorer people less poor, when donors see that development projects are being run on time and to budget thanks to better project management skills, then they’re more willing to continue their support and that makes things better for communities.”
John said that World Vision is training one thousand project managers in East and Southern Africa and Haiti. World Vision is undergoing organisational realignment in Africa, with increased focus on accountability and the communities it serves. The charity has established their own project management strategy which aims to empower national offices, programme management units, grant funded projects and local partners to collectively deliver successful projects. They plan to train over 3000 people with PMD Pro by 2016.
Birdview Projects is now free!
Last year I wrote a review of Birdview Projects. It’s now available free, and the company says it will now always be free. They are funding the free service through partnership and affiliate deals, so I don’t know whether the adverts for these offers will become distracting for users. Even so, there are not many project management products that you can use on an unlimited basis for free, so it is worth checking out at the Birdview website.
Not sure whether your project schedule is a good one? Acumen have released a free tool to help
The Schedule Index™ Calculator is a free project analysis and benchmarking web utility created by Acumen to provide project professionals a quick and easy means of gaining insight into planning quality and how their project compares to thousands of similar projects worldwide. I can’t vouch for it as I haven’t had time to use it myself yet but I thought I’d mention it in case you wanted to check it out.
EU and China launch joint project for managing disaster risks
Kristalina Georgieva, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, launched a new project this month which will bring China and the European Union together to collaborate on disaster risk management.
After the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, the European Commission offered its support to China’s disaster risk reduction work. A €6m financing agreement was signed two years later to establish the EU-China Disaster Risk Management project.
China will benefit from European expertise in strengthening its national system of disaster risk management while both sides profit from much closer dialogue and cooperation in this area. The project will help decision-makers and administrations in China deal with the challenges of disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction and post-disaster management. The expected result is a regular exchange in real-time on capacity-building and science and technology, including on early warning and forecast tools.
It sounds like a lot of money, but another aim (I imagine, this has not been explicitly stated as far as I can see) would be to reduce EC funding to China when disaster does strike. Between 1995 and 2010, over €25m was provided to China in response to floods, snow storms, droughts and earthquakes, so this project investment could minimise the requirement to contribute in the future if disasters can be better prepared for and managed locally.
23/06/2012
