In this Community Spotlight, Kyrylo Lupachov, a humanitarian professional from Ukraine, shares how Project DPro helped strengthen his daily work, introduced new ways of thinking about project management, and supported his transition into a leadership role. We are grateful to Kyrylo for sharing his experience with the PM4NGOs community!
I first learned about the opportunity to take the Project DPro training from the director of the CF “Pomogaem”, Maryna Perederii. In our organization, professional development is strongly encouraged, and she shared that Mercy Corps was looking for motivated project managers to participate in the training.
Later, I received more detailed information about this opportunity from Olha Kornieva (Mercy Corps). I explored the resource in depth and realized that the knowledge provided would be highly relevant to my work, especially given that I work in an organization responding to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
I submitted a motivation letter and was selected for the training.
I completed the course independently, and I currently use the diagrams and process-oriented approach described in the materials in my daily work.
Later, in our organization, we developed a new organigram, and it was decided to appoint me as Head of the Humanitarian Program. I am confident that the knowledge and experience gained through the course contributed to this transition.
As for advice, it is difficult to give universal recommendations, but one important thing to remember is that there are many tools available, and you should always try to use the ones that best fit your context and are most practical for your work. Continuous learning and applying knowledge in practice are also essential.
I would definitely recommend this certification to my colleagues. However, it is worth noting that I took the exam in English, and it was quite challenging. I believe that if the certification were available in Ukrainian, more professionals would be able to complete it.