The last one year has changed the future of education, training, creating awareness and messaging, andfundraising as we know it. The very rapid adaptation of virtual platforms, the use of technology and the easeto sit in your own space sans travel and learn at your own pace has truly arrived and is appealing. This will bea paradigm shift in many fields including education. Teachers will face competition and will need to findinnovative and interactive online teaching methods and the students will need to be attentive, alert and theevaluation could become more demanding.

The challenge of the virtual world for public awareness and training of transplant coordinators in the field oforgan donation during this pandemic was even more daunting with the rise of COVID-19 cases. Transplantprogrammes came to a halt and the focus was only to treat the pandemic. MOHAN Foundation adapted tothe virtual world very quickly thanks to their technology team and senior management's support. MOHANFoundation conducted one major activity almost every week.

Online training programmes for transplant coordinators (el.mohanfoundation.org)

MOHAN Foundation started structured training programmes for transplant coordinators to impart thenecessary knowledge and skills for the job in 2009. Training was conducted face-to-face with durationsvarying from one week to one month. Working healthcare professionals found it challenging to attendbecause of time constraints. In addition, participants were from different educational backgrounds and hadvaried skill sets and learning requirements. To meet this challenge, MOHAN Foundation embarked on anonline training programme and formally rolled out a one-year E-learning course, Post Graduate Diploma in Transplant Coordination and Grief Counselling, in 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in expanding the use of online training with the introduction of a short-term course, Transplant CoordinationProfessional Certificate, with more in the pipeline. A total of 2622 candidates have been trained through both face-to-face and online training from December 2009 – February 2021. Thetotal number of students who received online training fromDecember 2019 to February 2021 is 184. The geographicspread of participants covered the entire country and includedparticipants from Jammu, Kashmir, Bihar and Mizoram.International participants were from Qatar, Vietnam, Malaysia,Singapore, Nigeria, Spain, Nepal and Pakistan. MOHANFoundation's E-learning courses, 'Tele-education for transplantcoordinators – theexperience over three years,' were featured inthe segment 'Showcasing Tele-Health Success Stories from India' at the 16th International Conference of Telemedicine Society ofIndia 'Telemedicon 2020' that was held virtually in December2020.

Public awareness programmes and Organ Donation Ambassadors

Creating awareness on organ donation has always been a key activity of MOHAN Foundation. More than 200 awareness programmes were conducted using the online platform in 2020. In addition, MOHAN Foundation's one day online Gift of Life course for the general public to understand the nuances of organdonation has been very popular. The participants can learn at their own pace and it has been highly appreciated by them. A step up from this is a unique programme that MOHAN Foundation launched for interested volunteers to become Organ Donation Ambassadors. It is a virtual customised training module with the objective to enable volunteers to become proficient enough to be able to undertake awareness initiatives on organ donation amongst different audiences. Students from schools, colleges ofallied health sciences, engineering, law, and medicine as well as life members of the foundation and others have benefitted from the training.

Synchrony Dialogues with MOHAN Foundation

The lockdown also motivated us to initiate a series of online webinars titled, 'Synchrony Dialogues with MOHAN Foundation' on a range of issues catering to the general public, the youth,transplant patients and their families, transplant coordinators andother stakeholders in the area of organ donation. Some of the webinars organized were on how to take care of your kidneys,how to take care of your liver, organ and body donation, handand limb transplant etc. Others were focused on personal growthand developing interpersonal skills.

Transplant Recipients of India and Organ failure Patients – a Movement to Provide Hope (TRIOMPH)

A significant step forward towards patient support and advocacywas the launch of TRIOMPH (Transplant Recipients of India andOrgan failure Patients – a Movement to Provide Hope) – a PatientSupport Group initiative by MOHAN Foundation in September2020. TRIOMPH is committed to improving the quality of life of organ failure patients, transplant recipients and their families.TRIOMPH's mission is to improve the quality of life of organfailure patients and transplant recipients through patientempowerment, awareness, education, support and advocacy.

'Mission to reach Millions' – Music concerts for organ donation

For centuries, music has been an effective medium to reach outand touch the hearts of people. It is also a beautiful way tocapture their attention and thereby convey a social message.During the pandemic, when we were homebound, we started anew initiative called the “Mission to reach Millions”, where celebrated artistes and musicians from different regions of Indiaperformed Carnatic, Bollywood, Qawwali, Sufi and folk musicregaled our listeners. During the concerts, artistes endorsedorgan donation and we were able to reach lakhs of people acrossthe globe through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter with the message of organ donation. We will continue leveraging on thestrengths of social media to reach public at large so that we areable to give the “Gift of Life” to as many as possible.

This issue offers you a glimpse into these novel initiatives.