Insightful Notes from the Project DPro Webinar Delivered by John Cropper

 I am John Cropper, one of the people who are responsible for Project DPro certifications, learning programs and things like that, but first let me introduce myself to know me more about my works and area of specialization and then some background information about how and when the Project Dpro guide and examinations was established.

Over the last twenty-five years, I have been worked in multiple program roles in NGOs –including positions as Program Director for Oxfam GB in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean; Global Program Manager for a gender and governance program & running Oxfam’s project management systems globally. I helped write PMD Pro Guide and examinations. I am now Chair of PM4NGOs and led development of Program DPro.

Also I had worked on project management capacity building initiatives for more than thirty INGOs, local NGOs, UN agencies, and other development organizations.

In early 2007, a number of NGOs workers and Project Management Systems staff from different organizations, including Save the Children, Oxfam, Care, World Vision, Habitat for Humanity, CRS, Plan International, Mercy Corps, asked LINGOs , a capacity building organization specializing in NGO development, came together to develop appropriate project management learning materials for the NGO sector because we felt that commercially available learning programs and certifications about project management such as PRINCE2 by AXELOS (UK) and PMP by PMI (USA) weren't much help & suitable, actually they are great, but was quite complicated, costly and inaccessible to all at that time, so people need to travel a long to sit for the test in an exam centers at that moment, I did PRINCE2 some years ago, which are good stuff for project management professionals but the Project DPro and Program Dpro certifications are contextualized in the development sector, affordable and accessible to all people irrespective of geographical location as its purely administered online, via internet-based proctored by our partner, APMG arrangements.

From then there was a significant improvement and changes in the history of the Project Dpro and the PM4NGOs, which is a provider organization, you can read more at their website

 I always summarize our educational products as actionable, because of its easy-to-use and applicable; I want to share one story from one of our early beneficiary groups, indigenous women organization in Guatemala, they used to read and apply our Project Dpro guide, practiced over and over to build their capacity, did the examination and passed the test without having previous knowledge of project management, despite that none of them had secondary education. They applied all the necessary elements of project management skills from designing, planning, implementation and closing and after they continuously referred and applied the guide, they eventually able to secure funds from donors in the USA directly without the help of other international NGOs or external experts.  

   It is an accessible because all the guideline documents and so many educational videos are available in the literature for FREE, anyone with computer and internet can access them anytime. Also some educational institutions such as Pyramid Learning and others provide these trainings and they are an affordable products, because they are lifetime certifications and someone will go for certificate for just only $22 per person from local NGO workers in developing countries, this is the cheapest professional certification ever.

Pyramid Learning work with local resource people from 5 different countries, USA, Turkey, Nigeria, Somalia and South Africa because of the fact that we cannot reach globally, and instead we partner with local organizations to expand our reach and to help our learners apply these concepts and knowledge translated into local context, adding some educational experiences and coaching by local field experts.

Questions and Answers session

John Cropper: Why are you interested learning Project DPro?

Dr. Sadio Abdirahman Mohamud: I am dentist and public health trainee and I’m interested but I am not sure if it helps me in developing project proposals or implementing my health-related projects and how these courses work?

 John Cropper: Project DPro course or guide is not specific to any subject, not focused in proposal writing neither but it will cover anything related in project life cycle or phases from the designing until the closing projects, for example you may read examples from WASH project all thorough the course but that doesn’t mean you cannot apply these to other projects as well, probably you can do in your health projects as well.

But if someone needs to learn proposal writing, it is an additional skillset, we have a complete course for proposal development, and what makes projects look great is to knowing what you want to do first, how you want to do and why you want to do, if someone has no clear answers for these questions; then it will be very difficult in writing a proper proposal or selling ideas to a funder.

For the other half of the question, our courses are facilitated, and we have e-learning resources, videos and constant discussions by the participating learners and the teaching faculty throughout the course, plus localized coaching and accompaniment by our partners.

Yusuf Said Yousuf: Are the modules set in weeks’ time only, like if I am going to a field work next week and I have finished this week’s task can I also access the next weeks material to do them earlier?

John Cropper: Normally, the courses are run on a weekly basis, one module per week, similarly our learning package is what we call social learning so that when you are in module 1 for example you cannot skip to module 3, discussions are generated as part of the learning experiences so that whenever you submit or participate a discussion you will earn points or credits towards your performance, other people are also starting to interact with your discussion, and again you will get points from their engagement to your comment, for that reason if everyone is in module 1 and you are in module 3, no one can see your discussion, and vice versa.  

In summary, if there is a need to adjust or change we may look that but it is not appropriate for active learners but if you communicate your case to the course facilitators, we are ready to help.

Ali Hassan Jama: How many courses does someone requires to master in project management?

John Cropper: No honest answer to such question, for example, how many people can drive a car in the room?...So many, are they all on the same level? Does having a driving license sufficient to claim mastered in driving?

 In other words I think that what makes sense is not the number of courses taken but instead is what you have learnt from your learning experiences, that is continuing to learn from the same or previous experiences, practicing the knowledge and skills overtime and reflecting wisely makes people master in project management…

Omar Shuayb Mohamed: We are interested in learning this course, not because of getting certificates but because we want to apply and improve our profession.

Sure, you are correct. In my opinion, what helps your beneficiaries is that you are able to make a project a little bit better, a bit faster, a cheaper and make a difference to people on the ground and that is the most important thing, really that is good point Omar.

Dr. Fadumo Muhiyadin Abdulle: Can I access the course after it has finished:

Normally we close after the 4 weeks of active learning but videos and the guide are available as long as you want to read later, and many of our learning resources are free to anyone interested in learning.

Nasir Ibrahim Said: I want to share a story about how I have heard about Dpro courses, that was when a friend of mine recommended me to do these types of trainings because he finished and progressed his career promptly, he started from lower scale to the top rank of his International Organization right now after he has built his capacity and knowledge in development sector by these training opportunities.

John Cropper: Yes, I do agree that more than 1,250 International NGOs have recognized Project Dpro courses and certifications because they need to have people who have the same or common language about the projects, or similar level of understanding, many well-known INGOs respect these certifications, including, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, UNICEF, PATH and many more, particularly Mercy Corps when recruiting project staff, they prefer DPro certified professionals.

Ahmed Mohamed Jama:  Continuious Professional Development is the key to development for professionals and helps them updating and learn new knowledge, government engagement is also important for sustainability, sense of ownership and implementation.

My question is how can we mobilize government workers and the private sector in taking part of these types of training opportunities?

John Cropper:  Thank you Ahmed, I agree with you very much, I think that it is really helpful if the government is involved, I once worked with The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) in Lesotho, that time, I experienced that governments has much to do with the improvement efforts, not only for supply chain and regulatory measures; but whatever you can do to convince people to read guidelines even if they don’t want to go into the certification process would be grateful to you.

Ahmed Mohamed Jama: Can we organize to form a forum where we can share locally proven examples or experience based on our local setting, so we can share finding with other part of the world?

John Cropper: Yes, we are ready to collaborate and contribute from our end, it would make a positive impact to the society also, and local people know what works best in their communities.

Thank you for reading