'What we learn and carry forward depends on how well we listen, the trust we build, and how responsibly we translate those insights into meaningful action.'
Rachel Bartkowski
Master of Public Health '26
"There’s a point in graduate school when theory can begin to feel distant and concepts increasingly abstract. As a Humanitarian Health and Disaster Response student at George Washington University, I became very familiar with terms like “community engagement” and “participatory research.” But studying these ideas in a classroom in Washington, DC, is very different from putting them into practice.
When I saw an opportunity to take the Elliott School of International Affairs course Solutions in Sustainable Development with Dr. Samuel Ledermann, which offered the opportunity to conduct research in partnership with the Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Malawi, I was immediately intrigued. Despite my initial hesitation about my role as a Milken School of Public Health student, I enrolled and immersed myself in the research design process.
In collaboration with IITA, our class focused on cassava farming systems in Nkhatabay, Malawi. Background research had revealed clear gender dynamics within Malawi’s agricultural sector: women in Malawi make up about 70% of full-time farmers and produce over 80% of subsistence crops, yet face gender gaps in their full participation in the agricultural sector. These inequalities shaped my group’s focus on the gender dynamics within cassava production.
Through focus group discussions, interviews, and ranking activities with female farmers in Malawi, a more nuanced reality emerged. Cassava farming is not simply an agricultural activity; it is a nuanced system sustained by women. Women plant, cultivate, harvest, process, and sell cassava, drawing on decades of experience with the successes and challenges of growing a staple crop. Their knowledge is built through daily practice, observation, and adaptation.
This central role exists alongside a complex labor burden. The female farmers we spoke with described balancing intensive agricultural work with household and caregiving responsibilities. Some shared their experiences of working in the fields late into pregnancy and returning shortly after childbirth. Within cassava systems, women are not marginal actors; they are the backbone of production and expertise.
What I didn’t expect from this experience was that understanding these nuances required more than a well-designed methodology. It required stepping outside of my identity as a student or researcher and instead being intentionally present, listening, and establishing trust over time. Greeting participants in Chitonga, taking time to listen without interruption, and allowing conversations to move beyond rigid guides created space for more open dialogue. Some questions we had carefully developed simply didn’t resonate. Some answers revealed complexities we did not anticipate. All of this emerged gradually through conversation rather than through structured questioning alone.
Through this experience with GWU, research became more than just a concept studied in the classroom. Each “data point” was no longer an abstract participant but rather a skilled farmer choosing whether to share details about her livelihood, which is both physically demanding and economically vital. My role was not to generate knowledge but to receive it, interpret it, and communicate it responsibly. My role was not to speak for communities but to ensure their insights were not lost and that they moved into reports, programs, and policy discussions.
For organizations like IITA, these insights are critical. As cassava becomes more commercially viable, there is a risk that the women who sustain the system could be pushed out of higher-value roles. Ensuring that female farmers remain central to decision-making, ownership, and benefit-sharing is essential to shaping the programs and efforts intended to support them.
As a public health student trained to collect and analyze data, this experience in Malawi reshaped how I think about research itself. Good evidence is built through relationships and trust. What we learn and carry forward depends on how well we listen, the trust we build, and how responsibly we translate those insights into meaningful action."
Rachel Bartkowski is a second-year graduate student at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, pursuing a Master of Public Health with a focus on humanitarian health and disaster response. She attended the Spring 2026 STAP in Malawi, which focused on sustainable agricultural practices.