About Certification

About Certification

In 1993, Cando conducted a national survey of practicing Economic Development Officers (EDOs) to gain a clear picture of their education and training needs. Currently, Cando has two Certification Designations, the Technician Aboriginal Economic Developer (TAED) Certificate and the Professional Aboriginal Economic Developer (PAED) Certificate.

In 2007, Cando began the process of reviewing the TAED and PAED certification and through research and surveys with Cando Board of Directors, Committee members, Economic Development Officers, Cando Members at large, Accredited Institutions, and the many participants that attend our Annual National Cando Conference, Cando has made some changes to it Certification Process.

The previous 16 Competencies were developer through a DACUM (Developing Curriculum) Process to identify core competencies. The core competencies that were identified at this time have been included in the new competencies. Educators and Indigenous EDOs worked together and agreed on a process to ensure the content was relevant to the field of Indigenous economic development. The Process was the first national Professional Certification Process designed, developed and facilitated by an Indigenous organization.

The TAED certification competencies have been decreased to 11 competencies, with additions to the competencies outcomes and deletion to repetitions as well the basic competencies that are already requirements within the other competencies that were compiled. The process of restructuring of our new competencies was completed in 2015, and is now in transition stages.

The four guiding principles for education & training identified through Cando Certification process are: