Open to opportunities

Veronica Kariuki

@veronicakariuki

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Agricultural Economist and data management professional specializing in high-quality AI training datasets.

Kenya

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What I'm looking for

I’m looking for a role where I can manage and quality-check data end-to-end—especially AI-ready speech/image datasets—using digital tools, strengthen documentation, and coordinate teams across stakeholders in agriculture, climate, or research projects.

I’m a detail-oriented Agricultural Economist and Data Management Professional with over seven years of experience collecting, annotating, validating, and quality-checking research data in donor-funded programmes. I prepare high-quality training datasets for machine learning use cases by annotating image and audio data, and I review and clean large datasets to ensure completeness, consistency, and accuracy. I’m known for analytical thinking, accuracy, and maintaining strict documentation standards in remote and multi-stakeholder environments.

Across my roles, I’ve led digital data collection and dataset readiness—from building and customizing tools with KoboToolbox to supporting deployment with ODK Collect. I’ve transcribed and reviewed speech datasets, coordinated corrective actions with field teams, recruited and supervised data enumerators/transcribers, and produced technical reports and donor documentation. I bring strong project management, collaboration, and problem-solving to turn raw field data into usable, well-documented outputs for project reporting and AI model development.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Researcher

Local Development Research Institute

Oct 2025 - Jun 2026 (8 months)

Conducted desk-based climate research and cross-team review of Research and Innovation for Climate Hub (RICH) outputs. Contributed to proposal development for funding.

Climate Research Desk Research literature review Cross Team Review Proposal Development

Programme Officer

Local Development Research Institute

Mar 2022 - Sep 2025 (3 years 6 months)

Coordinated implementation of a GIZ-funded AI-enabled Early Warning System across ten Kenyan counties, managing data collection, annotation, validation, and documentation for machine learning. Produced technical and donor reports and coordinated stakeholder engagement and corrective actions with field teams.

ODK Collect Data Annotation Image Annotation Audio Annotation Speech Translation Data Validation Data Cleaning Quality Assurance KOBOToolbox Data Collection Enumerator Training Technical Reporting Stakeholder Management

Resource Person (LDRI)

KenCorpus Consortium

Jul 2024 - Jul 2025 (1 year)

Supported implementation of the African Next Voices (ANV) pilot project to create a text and voice corpus for five local languages, with LDRI handling Kikuyu. Recruited and trained data collection personnel and quality-checked translated, recorded, and transcribed Kikuyu voice datasets.

Kikuyu Language Data Collection Translation Validation Data Quality

Project Assistant

Local Development Research Institute

Aug 2019 - Jun 2022 (2 years 10 months)

Supported an AGRA-funded Extension Support Program (ESP) implementing a private sector-led extension approach in Kiambu, Embu, and Murang’a counties. Developed digital tools, managed datasets, conducted analysis and impact assessment surveys, and produced periodic technical and donor reports.

KOBOToolbox Database Management Data Cleaning Data Validation SPSS Stata Microsoft Excel Impact Assessments Technical Reporting Monitoring Visits

Research Assistant

KALRO and ILRI

Jun 2018 - Jul 2018 (1 month)

Collected agricultural data in support of USAID-funded tomato and french bean research (KALRO) and Brachiaria grass adoption research (ILRI). Designed questionnaires, collected data using ODK Software and CSPro, and supported data cleaning for client submission.

Questionnaire Design Data Collection Data Cleaning

Agriculture Assistant/Supervisor

International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)

Jun 2015 - Jul 2015 (1 month)

Trained enumerators on SurveyCTO and supervised digital household data collection in targeted areas across Kenya and Uganda. Performed data cleaning using SPSS and supported quality assurance and post-enumeration reporting activities.

SurveyCTO Digital Household Data Collection Enumerator Training Data Cleaning SPSS Quality Assurance Field Reporting

Research Assistant, Policy & Development

Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development

Jun 2014 - Apr 2015 (10 months)

Collected household survey data for USAID-funded agricultural and nutrition research projects using SurveyCTO across multiple counties. Supported performance evaluation surveys and maintained data quality throughout fieldwork.

SurveyCTO Household Surveys Performance Evaluation Data Quality Assurance

Research Assistant

Christian Aid

Mar 2019 - Present (7 years 4 months)

Conducted focus group discussions and key informant interviews for the CASE-OVC project supporting enterprise development among households of orphans and vulnerable children. Prepared a comprehensive report of the results from FGDs and key informant interviews.

Focus Groups Key Informant Interviews Report Writing

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

Egerton University / University of Pretoria

Master of Science, Agricultural and Applied Economics

2015 - 2019

Master of Science in Agricultural and Applied Economics, with thesis titled "Effect of women access to land on household nutritional outcomes among small-scale farmers in Machakos County, Kenya." Completed 2015–2019 across Egerton University (Njoro) and the University of Pretoria.