For the first time ever, the Zagreb chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) gave out an award for the best project management and the best project results. The recognition for the best project in 2008 was awarded to the project for the Public Cord Blood Bank Ana Rukavina.
The award is a professional recognition for the best project management and the best project results in Croatia. The expert panel of judges included Dražen Penzar, head of the award committee on behalf of PMI, Professor Velimir Srića from the School of Economics in Zagreb, and Ljiljana Čondrić from Ericsson Nikola Tesla. Together they decided who would receive the main award for project organization and implementation, especially in the area of technical innovation of the project and in the area of achieving savings in project management. The decision-making criteria encompassed the importance of the project’s goals for the client and for society in general, as well as the success in achieving the goals; the application of a structured project management methodology; the complexity of the project in terms of organization, technology, risk, deadlines, expenses or some other criteria; the level of innovation incorporated in project management and the extent to which the project’s goals were achieved beyond the original plan.
The award winning project, Cord Blood Bank Ana Rukavina, which is led by Dr. Branka Golubić Čepulić, M.Sc., the head of the Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapy at KBC Zagreb, demonstrated how successful management and implementation was possible in a very sensitive working environment that included medical materials and preparations that lives depended on. At the same time the project is also an example of excellent cooperation with non-governmental agencies to sensitize the public and increase solidarity in society on the whole. A number of citizens, anonymous and famous individuals, companies, public organizations and associations rallied around our project. Thus, the project did not only promote its own main goals, but served to raise and promote general awareness about the need for humanity and solidarity. “Our greatest award is the knowledge that the blood bank will save many lives in the future,” said Branka Golubić Čepulić while accepting the award.