Dannish Odongo
Journalist and Communicator ​

Dannish Odongo is a writer, journalist, and communicator with experience in designing successful campaigns spanning the private, non-governmental and political sectors. He has offered social commentary for leading media houses in Kenya and published extensively on politics, governance, mental health, and youth empowerment.

In December 2018, Odongo was thrust into the mental health space after a diagnosis. It opened his eyes to the role that mental wellbeing plays in the progress of the nation. He has authored a memoir titled ‘Unbreakable’ where he shares his journey of living with a mental health disorder while reflecting on what needs to be done to make mental health services accessible.

Odongo is the founder of the Wellness Tribe, a registered non-profit organization in Kenya exploring the intersection between governance and mental health through research, storytelling, and capacity building. In 2021, the organization successfully ran a project in 9 constituencies of Nairobi to study socio-economic status and well-being. The organization is currently piloting a project titled ‘Jitunze’; rebuilding communities through agriculture in Nyando, Kisumu County where vulnerable youth learn organic farming and skills in resiliency.

Odongo is a member of the suicide prevention technical working group convened by the Kenyan Ministry of Health. He is a founder of the Mental Health Alliance of Kenya bringing together people with lived experience across Kenya and advocating for their voices to be heard in policy and decision making.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in commerce from Daystar University and is currently pursuing a media studies Master’s degree in communication also at Daystar University where his research focus is the legacy media’s framing and reporting of mental health stories in Kenya.