Derek Chan

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Researcher

International Livestock Research Institute, CGIAR

2021 – Present Dakar; Nairobi
  • Engage with stakeholders (government officials, civil society, value chain actors, research organizations) to prioritize needs and develop solutions using scalable climate-smart livestock practices and critical policies to improve the socioeconomic livelihoods of livestock actors, improving resilience of the value chain while reducing the environmental impact of livestock activities.

  • Supervise colleagues and collaborate with local partners to develop analytical models and collect data to provide the evidence base to support policies being recommended.

  • Develop and lead capacity-building workshops with key decision-makers in East Africa, West Africa, South Asia and East Asia to further their development goals

 
 
 
 
 

Researcher

Centre d’études et de recherches sur le développement international

2020 – 2021 Université Clermont-Auvergne
  • Developed an integrated assessment model to be used by cities to attain the socioeconomic and environmental goals.

  • Developed and implemented a national planning model for France and European countries in the context of the European Green Deal.

 
 
 
 
 

Researcher, Lecturer

Erasme: Centre d’excellence Jean Monnet sur le développement durable

2020 – 2021 Université Clermont-Auvergne
  • Planned, organized, and developed materials for a month-long online introductory course on Systems Thinking and Sustainability, taught in English and French to undergraduate and postgraduate students.

  • Wrote and prepared the following successful grant applications: CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique) - École thématique - De la pensée systémique aux systèmes urbains circulaires; AUF (Association universitaires de la Francophonie) - Outil Multicritères d’évaluation des politiques Publiques des villes à l’aune des Objectifs du Développement Durable; UBA (Umweltbundesamt - German Environmental Agency) - Integrierte Betrachtung der UN-Nachhaltigkeitsziele (SDGs) in Transformationspfaden hin zu einem ressourcenschonenden und treibhausgasneutralen Deutschland; Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Chair - Circular Economy and Industrial Ecology

 
 
 
 
 

Policy Analyst

Millennium Institute

2018 – 2021 Geneva; Washington DC
  • Worked directly with partners (Ministries of Economy/Planning) to develop and implement planning models, and design and simulate demonstrative scenarios to directly inform national planning for the Sustainable Development Goals and National Targets.

  • Lead and managed projects, including liaising with donors, discussing project requirements and progress with clients and coordinating with colleagues to define roles and ensure tasks are completed to satisfaction and on schedule.

 
 
 
 
 

Researcher

McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics

2009 – 2018 McGill University
  • Constructed a System Dynamics model to analyze mechanisms that hinder healthy food consumption on a large scale in the province of Québec.

  • In a project with the Ministère de l’agriculture, des pêcheries et de l’alimentation du Québec, analyzed food consumption trends by region and socioeconomic demographics.

 
 
 
 
 

Lecturer, Teaching Assistant

McGill University

2009 – 2018 Montréal, Canada
  • Planned, developed, and taught courses on concepts of Strategic Management and Systems Thinking.

Projects

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Support all actors along the value chain to improve livelihoods and improve resilience in the face of climate change.

Develop policies to green livestock production

Improve productivity and resilience of livestock production systems

Improve the livelihoods of dairy actors

Participatory modeling of the wildmeat value chain.

Promote the wide-scale dissemination of climate adaptation planning tools

Analysis of meat demand and consumer behavior in West Africa

Find ways in which to scale up climate-smart agriculture initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa

Policies in sustainable agriculture and climate adaptation accelerate SDG attainment, along with education, gender, and governance.

The adoption of agroecology can improve farmers' incomes and productivity while reducing the strain on the ecosystem.

Integrated analysis of the cross-cutting programmes of NDP3 and its effect on national planning targets

Early childhood health and education programmes were found to have longlasting effects on socioeconomic development.

A model with interlinkages between social, economic and environmental sectors was developed to study progress to Vision 2035 targets.

A model was developed to assist subnational-level planners, which emphasizes trade-offs and synergies between investment priorities.

Publications

Community of Practice (CoP) on climate informed advisory services for livestock farmers: The process of co-development and dissemination in Senegal

Development of livestock farmer-targeted climate advisories in a colloquium of organizations including producers' organizations, non-governmental organizations, government agencies and government ministries and pilot to one thousand producers.

Modelling carbon and economic dynamics in livestock systems in Tanzania

Given the high potential climate impact of value chain upgrading opportunities, such as leather or productivity increases in meat and milk, it is important to understand their carbon dynamics and emission impacts.

Beef and dairy value chains in Senegal: Problems and Opportunities

Value chain assessment of the beef and dairy value chains in Senegal to identify opportunities for innovation and major constraints.

Web-based simulation interfaces as decision support tools for livestock systems

Use of System Dynamics-based modeling tools to support decision-making in livestock systems.

Regional integrated livestock value chain simulation model for economic, equity, and environment policy assessment

Proposes a unified framework that brings Value Chain Mapping and System Dynamics together in order to assess livestock value chains, with particular emphasis on the interaction between actors.

Integrated simulation for the 2030 Agenda

Sustainable development and the field of System Dynamics have evolved in lockstep since the early 1970s as increasing focus is on dynamic complexity of socioeconomic and environmental systems.

Understanding dynamics of equitable market transformation: The case of healthful foods

Why, despite increased awareness on healthy eating, does obesity remain so high? A built-in system of manufacturing, distribution and marketing of unhealthy foods, along with entrenched eating behavior makes changing current food consumption habits very difficult.

Policy insights from the nutritional transformation model: The case of obesity prevention

Integrative policy portfolios combining nutrition-sensitive government policy, industry self-regulation and efforts to foster health-sensitive food innovation can buld the potential to transform the food market to self-sufficiently supply nutritious foods.