PM²: the EU’s Project Management Methodology, in support of CSDP Missions and Operations

The ESDC had the honour of co-organising, together with the Hellenic Joint Supreme War College  the PM² Alliance  and LAFP, a tailor-made course on the use of the European Commission’s PM² Project Management Methodology  to support CSDP Missions and Operations.

All three co-organising institutes are members of ESDC’s extensive network  and are well-known training providers with significant experience in delivering high-quality, structured trainings.

For the course workshops, we used 4 real-case scenarios in the CSDP context, that were provided by the participants during the course’s preparatory asynchronous stage. The scenarios helped the participants gain a better understanding of how the methodology applies and how it can be better adapted to their ‘environmental needs’. This was also reflected by their active participation throughout the workshops.

It should be noted that the course was intensive, with over 80 % of the time spent on practical workshops. All participants were given the opportunity to implement the methodology and see the benefits which could derive from using it.

In the meantime, participants have already started sharing their feedback (through an official, Kirkpatrick-based post-course evaluation survey) and their kind words really compensate for all the effort put in place to organize and deliver such a demanding course especially under the COVID-19 restrictive measures. Here are some of the comments received so far:

We should thank our hosts and keynote speakers, and particularly:

• Col Anastasios Bletsas acting as the course director on behalf of the Hellenic Supreme Joint War College
• Mr Nicos Kourouankis, our course co-director and President of the PM² Alliance
• Ms Rosalina Majirova who delivered a keynote presentation on the role of FPI
• Mr Henning Fiedler who delivered a keynote presentation on the pragmatic contribution of a project Management methodology for the benefit of Mission Project Cells/Units
• Mr Andreas Kistemaker, acting as co-instructor throughout the course.

We have already started receiving requestes for participation for the next iteration of the course, scheduled to take place in Cyprus from 17 to 21 May 2021, under the co-organisation of the Security and Defence Academy of Cyprus, the PM² Alliance and LAFP.

We would like to thank all participants for their trust in the ESDC and promise to continue providing trainings to the highest standards.