Just looking for a bit of advice.
I worked for a NGO managing a development programme for almost 15 years. It was very high pressured, required knowledge of procurement, title, financing, business planning, environmental legislation, planning (as I assessed grant applications across a whole spectrum of activity), as well as general community development work. I managed the programme generally (including management of the team) and over 800 individual project. The programme spanned a huge geographic area.
I left because the pressure became too much, plus I had to deal with an extremely toxic CEO (possibly the most toxic person I have ever encountered) who was my line manager. I started to look for a new job and was offered one in the public sector, which turned out to be a disaster. My role was created as a result of an external review, there was an atmosphere of distrust and hostility among staff, some colleagues would not engage with me because they felt there was no need for any changes. So the solution was to reduce the actions in my job role so that I was basically entering data all day long. Despite this I gained trust of previous hostile colleagues and got on well personally (professionally I felt like I was dying inside). In 2020 I became ill and decided to leave to focus on my health.
My health is better and I took some time out. I'm OK for a while financially so I do have some breathing space to retrain/study. The public sector here is closed for any recruitment (not in UK). I'm wary of working in another NGO as poor employment practices are notorious here.
A few people have suggested that I do a professional Project Management qualification, as I spent years working in this area (but not within a PM framework). I did it because I had to and I was good at it.
Does anyone have any experience in this area? I'm worried I may not be able for such a qualification as I'm not good at maths (or tell myself I'm not) and always think it's an Engineering-type qualification. I'm extremely good at communicating, advising and building rapport with people. However I'm your typical arts graduate who loves essays!! I worry I would spend money doing a qualification and fail at the end. Or that I would fail on the ground. However after my last few years my confidence has been knocked a lot and I know I tend to underestimate myself.
Does anyone have any advice? Thank you.