GARC’s August Featured Platform User: Lilongwe SPCA, Malawi

 

This month’s featured GARC Data Platform user is Lilongwe Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (LSPCA). The LSPCA was started in 2008 when the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security supported a group of individuals who were concerned about animal welfare in Malawi. On 14 October 2010, they became the first domestic animal welfare organisation in Malawi.

As a non-profit organisation based in Lilongwe, they are dedicated to veterinary care and animal welfare. To teach the community compassion for animals in Malawi, they work with the government and other partners to drive public awareness campaigns, humane education, veterinary support, and promote the enforcement of the Animal Protection Act. 

The LSPCA’s mission is to improve the welfare of domestic, farm and working animals in Malawi. Since 2020, LSPCA has used the GARC Data Platform to collect, visualize, and analyze rabies-related data in Lilongwe. They have since:

• Recorded 77,264 dog vaccinations
• Recorded 8,138 cat vaccinations.
• Educated 91,566 people.

 

 

We asked Edson Chiweta, LSPCA’s Project Officer, about how they use the GARC Data Platform and the benefits they have experienced since using it for their day-to-day operations.

1. Briefly explain what rabies-related work you do? (2 or 3 short sentences max.)

LSPCA runs an ongoing rabies elimination program in Lilongwe urban with support from Welttierschutzgesellschaft e.V. (WTG). The program focuses on continuous vaccination, education, and surveillance. We vaccinate free-roaming and owned dogs and cats. We also carry out remedial vaccinations in areas where positive rabies cases are reported. Our rabies surveillance is done throughout the year and includes a toll-free line for the public to report suspected cases. We also educate primary school learners and the wider community on rabies prevention.

2. How long have you used the GARC Data Platform?

LSPCA has been using the GARC Data Platform since 2020 to date, making it 5 years.

3. What benefits have the GARC Data Tools provided you?

The GARC Data Tools have made our rabies elimination work more effective and efficient. The geo-tagged maps on the platform help us clearly see areas with low vaccination coverage and high numbers of rabies cases. This helps us to plan and better target our interventions. The built-in analysis tools mean we no longer need a separate data analyst, as the platform processes and summarizes the data automatically. The downloadable reports help us to share clear updates with donors and partners. The reports also support coordination with other stakeholders during stakeholder meetings.

4. Which of the GARC Data Tools have been most beneficial to your work and why?

The Rabies Vaccination Tracker is the most beneficial tool for our work, as our daily activities focus mainly on vaccinating dogs and cats. Thanks to its location mapping feature, we can use the app every day to record vaccination data and track where teams are working. This also allows supervisors to monitor field activities in real time. During rabies outbreaks, we rely on the tracker data to plan targeted ring vaccination campaigns based on coverage gaps in affected areas.

We look forward to our ongoing partnership with LSPCA. We also want to thank them for their ongoing use of the GARC Data Platform.

 

Are you working towards rabies elimination? Do you want to benefit from improving your data collection process? Do you want to be able to visualize this data to engage with potential donors in a more meaningful way? Contact us to become part of our growing network of GARC Data Platform users – click here.

Alternatively, if you are already actively using our GARC Data Platform, send us an email to support@rabiesalliance.org and you could be our next featured user!