What is this course about?
Project Management can be described as the activities of planning, organising, securing, monitoring and managing the necessary resources and work to deliver specific project goals and objectives in an effective and efficient way. Today’s organisations manage projects within increasingly complex environments driven by regulatory changes and organisational reforms. New EU programming period (2014-2020), new regulations, guidelines, product development, outsourcing and policy implementation, in addition to traditional, but vital, system development and implementation, are amongst the current key project initiatives organisations must manage. 

Given the projects' strategic impact, organisations must follow effective project management processes that measure progress and risks and ensure that the right results and objectives can be delivered in alignment with organisational priorities. The EIPA project management Academy’s main objective is to present and combine the essential elements of modern and effective project management current trends, techniques, tools and best practices in order to provide a complete project management training programme. This course incorporates elements from a wide range of globally accepted project management best practices, described in standards and methodologies (European Commission standard project management guidelines and Logical framework approach PCM and Pm²), PMBOK, and PRINCE2) as well as operational experience from the different international organisation and professional services firms (such as European Commission, United Nations, Ernst & Young, and PWC). All the project phases, from the designing to the closure of the project will be explained. From theory to practice in 4 steps: 

1. Initiating phase and business case
2. Planning phase
3. Executing phase
4. Closing phase

How will it help you?
The seminar will be very practical including a combination of theoretical explanations and practical exercises. Every step will be explained, presenting tools, techniques, templates and examples of implemented methodologies and projects. Every working group, commented in plenary, question and answer sessions, will require participatory approach and role plays. To assess the training needs and to ensure the same level of learning objectives in the seminar, registered participants, will be asked to answer a short electronic test on project management general knowledge to be submitted to the EIPA project leader. This test will also help the project leader to select the relevant project examples and topics to be used during the working groups. Participants will have the chance to choose to work on their own projects during the course.

Who will benefit most?
This intensive five-day training course is designed for project managers, desk officer and officials of public, private and international organisations, NGOs and universities that are interested in the implementation of EC and other international and national funded programmes and projects. The seminar is also relevant for the managing authorities (national and regional) who receive support from Structural Funds to inform potential beneficiaries, select the projects and generally monitor implementation of the programmes.