Dig Deep was founded in 2007 by two British students, Jo and Pete, after they were introduced to Maasai Kenyan women's rights activist and UN Person of the Year Agnes Pareyo. Agnes helped Jo and Pete to set up strong local working relationships, which resulted in the charity’s first two water projects. Since then, Dig Deep has continued to collaborate with the Kenyan government, local businesses and communities, to transform the provision of clean water, sanitation and good hygiene.

Dig Deep's purpose is to transform the provision of clean water, sanitation and good hygiene in Bomet County — one of the most challenging and least resourced areas in the country. It takes an integrated approach to all its work, using partnerships, education, training and advocacy to create sustainable change for Bomet’s one million residents.

So far, Dig Deep has reached over 200,000 people in Kenya with clean water, safe toilets and good hygiene since 2007. This is just the start, it is now scaling up to reach the entire county of Bomet. Dig Deep knows it can be part of the long-term solution because it has used its experience on the ground to design and roll out locally appropriate approaches, build partnerships with MPs in the Parliament of Kenya and become the first international charity to have a direct co-funding agreement with the national government’s grassroots Constituency Development Fund.

Its team is made up of 10 Kenyan and British staff, six trustees and 300+ volunteers. Dig Deep's local office is located in the heart of the communities it serves in Bomet, and its Kenyan team are all from the surrounding area. Its work is in part funded by our not for profit trading arm Dig Deep Challenges — which raises funds for the charity’s work through providing life-changing fundraising events for young people and supporting ethical tourism in East Africa — as well as a variety of trust, foundations and corporate partners.

As part of Dig Deep's exciting growth plan of creating sustainable change for Bomet’s one million residents over the next few years, it is now looking to expand its Board of Trustees. The new Trustees will use their specific skillset and relevant experience to help the Board make strategic decisions and expand its reach to transform the provision of clean water, sanitation and good hygiene in Bomet County.

The Trustees will have a strong alignment with the vision and mission of Dig Deep and pro-actively help to work towards its success and growth. In addition to the formal Board and committee meetings, Trustees will be willing to undertake informal engagement with the charity, including providing advice on an ad hoc basis to the management team. Trustees will be expected to use their specific knowledge and experience to help the Board reach sound decisions; assist the senior leadership team with advice as required; and keep informed about, and support as appropriate, the activities of the organisation.

Responsibilities of the Trustee may include:

• Offering support, guidance and constructive challenges to the management team
• Assisting with strategic, long-term planning to realise Dig Deep's ambitions, whilst responding to challenges and opportunities as they arise
• Offering specific guidance in their areas of expertise
• Ensuring that the charity applies its resources in line with its charitable objects
• Carrying out the core responsibilities of charity governance, as set out in Charity Commission Guidance
• Safeguarding the reputation and values of Dig Deep and have an active concern for International Development and a commitment to increasing the impact of the charity
• Have a commitment to integrity, honesty, accountability and openness

The successful candidate(s) may have experience in one, or more, of the following areas:

International development: Candidates should have previous experience at leadership level within the international development sector. Candidates will have an understanding of policy and funding in the sector, as well as impact evaluation and measurement.

Financial and accounting acumen: Candidates should have in-depth experience of working directly with financial and accounting issues. Experience could be either in a leadership role of a finance function or as a director or partner of a professional services firm in this area. Candidates will be able to lead the board in debates about complex financial and accounting matters and preferably be a chartered accountant.

Fundraising: Candidates must demonstrate a successful track record of strong professional fundraising experience. They will have a strong network with grant-giving charities and foundations or similar, which can be leveraged to raise funds for Dig Deep.

Marketing and communications strategy: Candidates will be able to demonstrate responsibility for driving the marketing and communications strategy of an organisation, including overall image and branding.

Human resource management: Candidates will bring a deep understanding of human resources strategies of organisations of a similar size to that of Dig Deep (including in distributed organisations). Further, candidates should also have an understanding of UK employment law as well as a sense of current market trends in terms of people and employment practices.

Legal: Candidates will have in-depth experience of working directly with legal issues. This experience might have been gained as a lawyer or as a non-lawyer with extensive experience of soliciting legal advice. They will be able to provide counsel on deciding when legal advice needs to be procured.

Public relations / affairs: Candidates will have a background of public relations / affairs gained in a senior role either within the commercial, political, government, or regulated sectors. They will have the ability to operate at a strategic level and advise on increasing Dig Deep's profile within local or international government and related authorities / institutions.

Tourism: Candidates should bring deep knowledge of current trends and strategies in the tourism sector preferably in East Africa, as the charity runs numerous fundraising challenges in the region.

Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): Candidates should bring prior experience working in the WASH sector at a senior leadership level, where they aimed to provide education, awareness, or funding to supply clean drinking water and sanitation education in underdeveloped regions.

The charity is also open to receiving applications from candidates who have prior experience working at growing and developing organisations in Kenya as well as those who bring international board-level experience.

The role is unremunerated but reasonable pre-agreed domestic travel expenses can be reimbursed. The Board of Dig Deep holds four annual Board meetings in London. Trustees are also usually appointed to one committee relevant to their specialism. Committee meetings take place two to four times a year and are normally held virtually. The length of the appointment is three years, subject to renewal of a maximum of three consecutive terms by mutual agreement.