Project Management Associations and Certifications
There are many Project Management associations and many of them offer a variety of Certifications. Most of the associations dedicated to promoting project management are country specific. Only PMI and IPMA have global presence (or at least in 40 countries)
1. Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) offers the below certifications.
http://www.apm.org.uk/page.asp?categoryID=2
They used to offer Certificates like "Certified International Project Manager", but I don’t know what happened to them.
4. International Project Management Association (IPMA) is really a federation of National associations. They offer four levels of certificates
http://www.ipma.ch/certification/Pages/Model.aspx
The Indian association is www.pma-india.org . asapm (American Society for the Advancement of Project Management) is the US Member Affiliate of IPMA. Its website is http://www.asapm.org/
5. Project Management Institute (PMI). This has global presence, but centralized operations. They offer 3 certificates:
http://www.pmi.org/CareerDevelopment/Pages/Our-Credentials.aspx
There are two types of PM certifications:
For the Knowledge based, you basically sit for an exam and pass the test. In the case of competency case, you have to write lengthy stories about your project or program experience that’ll be evaluated by assessors.
CAPM of PMI, Level D of IPMA are examples for knowledge based. Levels A and B of IPMA are examples for competency based.
This Guide from PM today magazine lists some prominent ones. Here's another Comparison of PMI, AIPM, AACE, IPMA and PRINCE2 Certifications Dated Dec 2005
Interesting Note: Is project management a profession, discipline, or some thing else. Here's a Ph.D thesis on if Project Management is a Profession. Note: The thesis is a PPT with lots of charts. If you aren't the research kind of guy, you wont fully understand it.