This year the IPMA International Project Management celebrates 50^th Anniversary. We are all proud to be part of the world´s first project management association that is present in about 60 countries all over the globe. The anniversary is a great opportunity to look back and celebrate the successes. Certainly, we will do this during the 29^th World Congress end of September in Panama [http://wc2015.ipma.ch]. The anniversary is also a good opportunity for looking ahead and defining the next steps. Therefore, the Executive Board of IPMA initiated the development of an IPMA Strategy 2020, which was approved during the last Council of Delegates in Rotterdam. IPMA observes an increasing number and importance of projects, e.g. in Germany projects contribute approximately 40% to the gross domestic product, but still too many projects fail.

Hence, IPMA´s vision statement is ambitious, points to the need for competence in a project-oriented society and the role IPMA plays for performing projects successfully: “Promoting competence throughout society to enable a world in which all projects succeed.” IPMA is a vibrant network of about 60 member associations all over the globe. Some associations additionally form regional networks, such as NORDNET in Scandinavia or LATNET in Latin America. A unique feature of IPMA is the de-centralized and multi-culturally diverse network. We believe, diversity is an essential resource for a sustainable development in the 21^st Century. Consequentially, one of the most important IPMA´s mission statements is, to facilitate co-creation and lever the diversity of our global network into benefits for the profession, economy, society and environment. A network requires different leadership styles. Values are more important than rules and regulations. Thus, the cooperation in IPMA´s network is built on mutual respect, decisions are reached through consensus and diversity is highly appreciated. People are striving for professionalism based on integrity, accountability and transparency, e.g. following IPMA´s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

To establish a high performing global reach through a sustainable equitable and diverse network, IPMA has begun to perform a change program which includes strategic projects (e.g. the development of standards and a learning eco-system) as well as enabler projects (e.g. capacity building  and a regional development program). There is a long road ahead of us, but it is important to shape IPMA through projects and leading as a good example into the future of our society.

IPMA Council of delegates, Rotterdam 2014, photo taken by IPMA offical photographer Les Squires

2013, Berlin Germany. “Theory Meets Practice in Projects”, photo taken by IPMA offical photographer Les Squires