Research into Use in Kisumu County, Kenya

Myself and my colleague Sophie Durrans recently travelled to Kisumu, Kenya to visit our partner organisation, Great Lakes University Kisumu (GLUK). GLUK are implementing the Safe Start project – an early childhood food hygiene intervention in informal urban settlements. Safe Start will target caregivers of children under two to improve their food hygiene practices, and they’ll measure the effect this has on enteric infections.

A key component of the SHARE programme is research into use; researchers aim to engage others so that relevant research findings can influence and improve policy and practice. GLUK have been engaging a range of local, national and international stakeholders since project inception. As SHARE closes at the end of 2018, our visit to GLUK presented an ideal opportunity to reflect on their successes so far and to plan ahead for further research into use work.

Building relationships with government and in the community

GLUK’s intervention is partially delivered by community health volunteers (CHVs) – this involves working closely with Kisumu County government health officials and staff as well as building strong relationships with the community health volunteers and community members themselves. GLUK have involved the county government from the beginning of the project including getting their input into intervention design and delivery. Engaging local government is critical for any future scale up of the intervention.

In 2017, GLUK conducted formative research in Obunga, Kisumu (a different informal settlement than the one targeted in the main intervention). GLUK have found that these community health volunteers remain engaged and have continued sharing complementary food hygiene practices within communities through home visits and even skits!

Sharing formative findings at a public symposium

Another highlight from 2017 was GLUK’s November WASH Symposium which had around 140 attendees. GLUK shared formative research findings at this event with county government, other national research institutes, NGOs, international agencies and donor organisations.

Planning for the main intervention

It was exciting to see the GLUK team preparing to implement the main intervention during our visit! GLUK will be working with a new group of community health volunteers to co-implement the Safe Start intervention, aiming to build capacity and skills amongst these CHVs and to increase uptake of improved hygiene behaviours within the target community.

We worked together on a research into use plan for 2018 that will engage different stakeholders throughout the year, culminating in another WASH Symposium. We look forward to catching up with the GLUK team later this year on their research into use work!