Data Science Africa (DSA) continues to advance applied AI research across the continent through its Visiting Fellowship Program, which provides researchers with opportunities to gain hands-on experience, strengthen industry-relevant skills, and contribute to projects that directly impact African communities. The program emphasises practical applications of AI, ensuring that research goes beyond theory to deliver tools that serve real community needs.
This year, the DSA Visiting Fellowship has been awarded to Cynthia Amol, a PhD student in Computer Science at Maseno University and a Natural Language Processing (NLP) researcher at the Maseno Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence (MCAAI) under the mentorship of Dr. Lilian Wanzare. The fellowship is being implemented in partnership with Sunbird AI, a leading organisation creating production-ready language technologies for African languages. Sunbird AI is widely recognised for its impact-driven work in automatic speech recognition (ASR), particularly for low-resource languages. Its commitment to building scalable, open-source language systems demonstrates how AI can be harnessed to improve access to essential services such as agriculture, health, education, and digital governance.
A key pillar of this initiative is the African Next Voices: Pilot Data Collection in Kenya, led by Maseno University and partners with support from the Gates Foundation. The project produced more than 3,000 hours of speech data across five Kenyan languages—Dholuo, Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Maasai, and Somali. This dataset provides a critical foundation for advancing ASR research in Kenya. Through the fellowship, Cynthia’s work at Sunbird AI focuses on utilising this dataset to develop robust, scalable, and accurate speech-to-text models that are ready for integration into digital platforms.
This collaboration ensures that cutting-edge research translates into tangible solutions to help bridge the digital divide. Reliable voice interfaces in African languages have the potential to transform service delivery by enhancing access to government resources, expanding health information, supporting education, and strengthening agricultural services.
MCAAI, which played a leading role in curating the African Next Voices dataset, shares this vision of community-driven innovation. With its applied research mandate aligning closely with DSA’s vision and Sunbird AI’s mission, the fellowship stands as a strong example of how partnerships between African institutions can accelerate the development of technologies that place communities first. Together, DSA, Sunbird AI, and MCAAI are ensuring that speech technology for African languages moves from research labs into real-world applications, delivering inclusive and impactful solutions for the continent.