Cecília Morales

Oct172019 by Cecília MoralesNo Comments

Can Organisations Standardise Their Approach to Project Management and Still Remain Adaptive?

This article has been originally published at Humentum

Our sector is notably opposed to the language of standardisation. So, when preparing to speak at the Humentum conference this year on how large organisations can standardise their approaches to project management and remain adaptive, the first thing I did was try to find an alternative for that phrase.

A quick google thesaurus of ‘standardise’ throws up a long list of equally, often more, uncomplimentary terms. To institutionalise, to stereotype, to regiment or mass produce. Not things most Project Managers or organisations would want to be associated with.

Scrolling down to the list of antonyms for ‘standardise’ gave even more reason to want to avoid it. To mix up, prevent, change or differentiate. These are camps which any PM worth their stripes would much rather sit in. Our primary goal is to instigate change. To prevent bad things from happening.

Sep252019 by Cecília MoralesNo Comments

Depoimento sobre o PMD Pro – Saulo Esteves

Development Sector, Humanitarian Sector, PMD Pro, PMD Pro Certification

Enviado pela APMG International

Nome: Saulo Esteves
Profissão: Profissional de Monitoramento e Avaliação de Projetos Sociais
Organização: ChildFund Brasil

Qual é sua opinião sobre o treinamento / exame PMD Pro?

“Não tenho dúvidas de que o PMD Pro é o melhor curso de gerenciamento de projetos para profissionais do terceiro setor. A grande vantagem do PMD Pro é que existem excelentes ferramentas aplicáveis a todos os ciclos de vida do projeto. Além de fornecer conteúdo rico para o setor de desenvolvimento, o PMD Pro permite que você seja certificado internacionalmente em gestão de projetos. Eu recentemente obtive a certificação de nível 2. ”

Você já utilizou o exame em seu trabalho? Se sim, como isso ajudou?

“Sim. Graças ao PMD Pro, o ChildFund Brasil e seus parceiros locais implementaram as melhores práticas e abordagens para o gerenciamento de projetos por meio de ferramentas específicas aplicáveis ao setor de desenvolvimento social. As pessoas que foram capacitadas tornaram-se mais capazes e seguras para realizar seu trabalho. Isso faz com que todos os programas e projetos de nosso portfólio sejam bem-sucedidos e nos coloca entre as melhores ONGs do Brasil. Hoje, sinto-me particularmente familiarizado com questões relacionadas aos ciclos de vida do projeto, medição de impacto, indicadores sociais, gerenciamento de riscos, partes interessadas do contexto social e outras questões específicas do terceiro setor. ”

O PMD Pro te ajudou a desenvolver sua carreira? Se sim, como?

“Sim. Após o treinamento e a certificação do PMD Pro, me sinto mais qualificado para atuar em contextos desafiadores do setor de desenvolvimento e preparado para tomar as decisões corretas ao gerenciar projetos sociais. Com a certificação, ganhei mais credibilidade profissional e, com o conhecimento, tenho a oportunidade de treinar outras pessoas para que os projetos da minha organização tenham um impacto positivo na vida de crianças, adolescentes, jovens e suas comunidades.”

Sep232019 by Cecília Morales1 Comment

PMD Pro Testimonial – Saulo Esteves

Development Sector, Humanitarian Sector, PMD Pro, PMD Pro Certification

Sent by APMG International

Name:                  Saulo Esteves
Role:                     Professional of Monitoring and Evaluation of Social Projects
Organization:   ChildFund Brasil

What are your thoughts on the training / exam?

“I have no doubt that PMD Pro is the best project management course for professionals in the third sector. The great advantage of PMD Pro is that there are excellent tools applicable to all project life cycles. In addition to providing rich content for the development sector, PMD Pro enables you to be internationally certified in project management. I recently achieved the Level 2 certification.”

Have you used the exam in your job role yet? If yes, how has it helped?

“Yes. Thanks to PMD Pro, ChildFund Brazil and its local partners have implemented best practices and approaches to project management through specific tools applicable to the social development sector. The people who have been empowered have become more capable and safer to perform their work. This makes all the programs and projects in our portfolio succeed and places us among the best NGOs in Brazil. Today, I particularly feel more familiar with issues related to project life cycles, impact measurement, social indicators, risk management, stakeholders from the social context, and other specific third sector issues.”

Has it helped you to develop your career? If yes, how?

“Yes. After PMD Pro training and certification, I feel more qualified to act in challenging contexts of the development sector and prepared to make the best decisions when managing social projects. With the certification I have gained more professional credibility and with the knowledge I have the opportunity to train others, so that projects of my organization have a positive impact on the lives of children, adolescents, youth and their communities.”

We would like to thank Saul for the testimonial!
How about you? How is your experience with PMD Pro?

Sep102019 by Cecília MoralesNo Comments

APEX Global opens doors to Development and Humanitarian Sector

Uncategorized

APEX Global (www.apexgloballearning.com), one of the Philippines’ leading learning solutions providers, announced that they have partnered with PM4NGO, an international NGO that promotes project management in the international development sector, to provide courses tailored towards the said sectors starting with the PMD Pro Certification.

“The development landscape here in the Philippines has grown significantly in the past few years.”, said Karthik Subburaman, ASSIST Asia’s Regional Director, one of APEX Global’s clients. “I have worked with project managers who are well versed with several international PM frameworks but are unfamiliar with how the development sector operates and carries out projects”

While project management principles remain the same across the board, a few niche factors and idiosyncrasies within the development and humanitarian sectors can affect how the project would turn out and meet closure.

“Project management has been one of our pillars throughout or years of operations,” stated Shuba Karthikeyan, Group Manager for APEX. “With the addition of PMD Pro, not only would we be solidifying our portfolio, but this way project managers interested in said sector will have enough grit to validate their competence.

APEX Global’s PMD Pro course will be launched by late October this year. Participants will receive a 2-day holistic learning experience in managing end-to-end project lifecycle, key project management areas, tools and techniques across various project management process groups; all within the context of the development and humanitarian sector.

About APEX

APEX Global’s mission is to help professionals in Philippines and ASEAN region acquire the skills they need to succeed in today’s digital economy. The company provides training in disciplines like Project Management, Business Process, Big Data and Cloud where technologies and best practices are changing rapidly and demand for qualified candidates significantly exceeds supply. Based in Manila, Philippines, Apex Global has helped over 300,000 professionals and companies across 5 countries get trained, acquire certifications, and up-skill their employees. Its training courses are designed and updated by renowned industry experts. APEX Global’s blended learning approach combines online videos, physical classroom training, project work, and 24/7 teaching assistance.
Visit www.apexgloballearning for more details.

Jul222019 by Cecília Morales2 Comments

Program DPro (PgMD Pro) Rebranding

PMD Pro, Program Management

Over the past 10 years, PMD Pro has reached 27 thousand professionals, working at 1,250 organizations, in 165 countries. This is the number of professionals that we can acknowledge because they have taken the exam – but we are sure that many more project managers and their teams are applying the PMD Pro best practices. This large community has motivated and helped PM4NGOs and its partners to go beyond the project management level.

PMD Pro has given birth to a family of best practices and methodologies: Program Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, Financial Management, PMD Pro Starter, and supplemental materials like the Theory of Change and the Quick Reading Guides.

Informally, we refer to this group of guides and methodologies as the DPro Family.

To better align with the growing DPro family of methodologies and Guides, we rebranded our methodology PgMD Pro to Program DPro. Next year, we will also rebrand PMD Pro to become Project DPro (with a permanent reference to the original brand PMD Pro).

Rebranding is about changing perception. It is more commonly described as a change in how you look, sound, and write. This change will allow practitioners to better recognize all current and future DPro practices as member of one family.

Jun222019 by Cecília MoralesNo Comments

Rede Filantropia, uma organização parceira do PM4NGOs

Partners

É com alegria que o PM4NGOs anuncia que a Rede Filantropia é uma de suas organizações treinadoras parceiras.

Texto por: Rede Filantropia

A Rede Filantropia atua, desde 2002, para fortalecer a gestão de organizações da sociedade civil organizada (OSCs) do Brasil por meio de diferentes canais: treinamentos, eventos, publicações impressas e on-line, webinars, dentre outros. Por meio desses canais, oferecemos capacitação e conteúdo sobre todos os temas que permeiam a gestão dessas ONGs, por exemplo: contabilidade, legislação, captação de recursos, voluntariado, tecnologia, RH, administração etc. Hoje, atuamos com organizações de todo o Brasil.

Jun222019 by Cecília MoralesNo Comments

Rede Filantropia, PM4NGOs training partner

Partners

PM4NGOs gladly announce Rede Filantropia as new training partner.

Written by: Rede Filantropia
Translated by: PM4NGOs

Rede Filantropia has been working since 2002 to strengthen the management of organized civil society organizations (CSOs) in Brazil through different channels: training, events, print and online publications, webinars, among others. Through these channels, we offer training and content on all issues that permeate the management of these NGOs, for example: accounting, legislation, fundraising, volunteering, technology, HR, administration, etc. Today, we work with organizations from all over Brazil.

Apr72019 by Cecília MoralesNo Comments

Project management professional development: agile or traditional?

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This article was originally published on APMG.

Project management professional development: agile or traditional?

Training and certification is a great way for project professionals to demonstrate their knowledge and competences to current and future employers. Whether aligned to a particular framework or methodology, or a focus on the key attributes or a project manager, training and certification can prove incredibly valuable for enhancing skills and enabling career progression.

With a wide range of options available in the marketplace, it can be a difficult and time-consuming task identifying the best option/s for one’s career development.

This is further complicated by the rise of agile and its influence on the project management landscape, with more organizations and project professionals than ever embracing agile tools and frameworks as they aim to increase the success of – and return on investment from – projects and other change initiatives.

With agile now mainstream in project management, a key decision faces many project professionals considering training and certification, and indeed those embarking on a career in project management. The decision is linked to a question along the lines of:

Should I certify in agile or traditional/waterfall project management?

Mar222019 by Cecília MoralesNo Comments

The ‘Intent’ in Intentional Organizational Learning

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The 'Intent' in Intentional Organizational Learning

This article was originally published on Humentum.

Generally, to be intentional means, to do something on purpose or to be deliberate – when used, the addition of the word intentional often is to add emphasis. It implies that an organization has thought about its options, discussed everything that need to be discussed, and come to this decision. As a result, resources are being allocated to make it successful.

When it comes to learning this includes having deliberate discussions within the organization or to implement something purposefuly. At an individual level, intentional learning happens when one sets out to learn something specific. One might search on the internet for advice on how to solve a problem or acquire a skill. Or one might enroll in a training course to learn how to paint or speak another language. The point is that Intentional Learning is not accidental, and it is driven by a goal or need, even if you don’t know what that is.

According to written literature, intentional learning in an organization is the “persistent, continual process to acquire, understand, and use a variety of strategies to improve one’s ability to attain and apply knowledge” (American Accounting Association, 1995). The “cognitive processes that have learning as a goal rather than an incidental outcome (Bereiter & Scardamella, 1989)

Mar222019 by Cecília MoralesNo Comments

Virtually Human: Creating Team Cohesion Without Being Together

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Virtually Human: Creating Team Cohesion Without Being Together

This article was originally published on Humentum.

When I started my career in 1990 working for a small international agency, we still had a Telex machine, but we never used it. Instead, we heavily relied on fax. One of my duties was to collect the piles of curled pages lying on the floor after one of our project offices had sent through a report. I’d sort the pages into the correct order and set the pile on a table under a heavy weight to flatten before handing it to my executive director. The following day, I’d assist in faxing back a reply.

Today, most workers have never even used a fax machine. Instead, we struggle with the volume of email exchanged every day with colleagues, even while adjusting to the proliferation of apps offering even more ways to communicate and collaborate virtually. As a result, we now seem to be seeing the dawn of the fully virtualized workplace.

HUMENTUM’S TRANSITION

As a case in point, Humentum recently made the decision to transition to a virtual workplace model. In place of a collection of offices in several locations around the world, they’ll organize into a network of individuals primarily working from home. I would argue that this is a brave, strategic and—some may say—risky decision. It is also likely a prophetic choice, when we stop to imagine the workplace 25 years hence.

Project management professional development: agile or traditional?

Should I certify in agile or traditional/waterfall project management?

The 'Intent'​ in Intentional Organizational Learning

Virtually Human: Creating Team Cohesion Without Being Together

HUMENTUM’S TRANSITION

The 'Intent' in Intentional Organizational Learning