Rachel Mkandawire has just completed a Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Pathology from the University of Pretoria. She also holds a Master of Science in Crop Protection from Ghent University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture from Bunda College of Agriculture. Her interests lie in agriculture research and development. She has over 15 years of experience working in food security, farmer participatory research, disaster management, designing and carrying out experiments, writing technical reports, writing policy reviews, opinion pieces on science and development, policy and communication, and agriculture extension in low-resource communities. She is currently working as a Policy and Research Analyst for Food Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) where she is working on the Food Systems Transformation for One Health Project (FoSTA- Health) and ARUA-FSNET initiatives and is actively involved in Policy and stakeholder engagement for four countries (Malawi, South Africa Tanzania, and Zambia). She is also involved in policy and advocacy in shifting the region’s focus towards Food Systems’ approach.
