Radhika Joshi lost a loved one to kidney failure. That is when she realized that every year about 5 lakh individuals lose their lives due to the unavailability of organs and only 0.86% per million people donate their organs due to countless myths surrounding this cause.
19-year-old Radhika founded The Second Chance Project, which uses creative interventions to spread awareness about this cause by conducting information sessions, street plays and art. Their methods are innovative, easy to implement and cost-effective. They have recently started making the use of ‘organ donation aprons’ by transforming simple household kitchen aprons.
Within 11 months, they have sensitized 700 individuals on the topic. Through various awareness drives and sensitization workshops the project has managed to register over 50 individuals as organ donors. They have started the Dehradun, Mumbai and Delhi City Chapters.
Radhika is among the inspiring Indian teenagers shortlisted by Ashoka Innovators for the Public for its Young Changemakers programme, which focuses on the role of young people as influencers and co-leaders. The 12 bright young sparks like her, are the representatives of this network with the aim of realizing a world where Everyone is a Change maker (EACH).
In the next two years, Radhika wants to start City Chapters in all major cities of India, and this campaign will be mostly led by youth. They want to document inspiring organ donation related stories to the masses and expand their team of volunteers, to sensitize more people about this cause and create a greater impact.
Radhika Joshi, Founder, The Second Chance Project
By 2020, they plan to organize an annual recurring “Organ Donation Conclave”, which will be a platform where NGOs, social workers, government representatives, policy makers, academicians come together and discuss tangible solutions for challenges faced in the organ donation space, which will be shared with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India.
