Meet Rose Kendagor, our Project Officer in Kenya

Rose Kendagor running one of our hygiene training sessions

Rose has a background in Public Health and holds a Masters in Public Health (MPH) from James Grant School of Public Health in Bangladesh. She has over ten years experience in programme and research related work, with a particular focus on WASH projects, and has worked with various international NGO's in Kenya. Rose joined Dig Deep in January 2016 as Project Officer, and will focus on the implementation of our hygiene promotion activities and training. 

We asked Rose to tell us about her work and why she decided to join Dig Deep. 

Diarrhoea continues to be one of the major killer diseases of children under-five in rural and marginalized areas of Kenya. Lack of awareness and knowledge, poor attitudes and behaviours towards key hygiene practices are some of the risks to the continued prevalence of the disease. 

Creating awareness on the links between disease and poor WASH practices has been the core of my work as a result making a contribution to the achievements of SDG 6 that aims to ensure availability and sustainable management and water and sanitation for all. 

Investing in WASH champions through capacity building in Hygiene Promotion Programs has been my KEY area of interest and focus. This fits within one of DD objectives that ‘taps and toilets don’t improve health and education only using them effectively does.” I joined DD as a project Officer and my role involves designing of training guides and development of IEC materials targeting specific contexts and audiences. These materials improve the knowledge, promote adoption of good hygiene behaviours and empower the target groups as change agents within their communities.  

With improved hygiene practices there is reduction in diarrhoea disease cases which result to time saving for women who are often responsible for caring of sick children and family members, improved education outcomes for children and saving of household incomes. Time saved by women is allocated for other productive activities within the households. 

What I’m proud of is increased awareness and knowledge on Hygiene and Sanitation which contributes to behaviour change and adoption of good hygiene practices .