Sri Lanka’s largest e-commerce marketplace, Daraz signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with WECare, a UK charity organization on a mission to provide high-quality veterinary care for street dogs in Sri Lanka.

A collaborative effort of vets, nurses, and animal lovers from the UK, Sri Lanka, Australia, India, and Poland, WECare Worldwide focuses on the three key areas of neutering and vaccinations, treatment of illness and injury, and educating the community about the welfare of roaming dogs. Since its inception in 2014, the organization and its founder Dr. Janey Lowes have been working tirelessly to provide essential healthcare to street dogs in Sri Lanka.

Daraz’s partnership with WECare will enable the deployment of a fully equipped “Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return” (CNVR) vehicle which will aid in sterilization, vaccination, and treatment of injuries and illnesses of up to 13,000 street animals per year, islandwide. The mobile unit will also help the organization amplify its efforts to educate local communities on animal welfare and protection.

Commenting on the partnership, Daraz Sri Lanka Managing Director Rakhil Fernando said: “Animal welfare standards in Sri Lanka are inordinately low. Millions of street dogs in the country lack basic veterinary care, and if we care about animals and the wellbeing of the communities they live in, it’s important for us to do our part and support the incredible work of animal welfare advocates like Dr. Janey Lowes and the WECare foundation. Uplifting our communities and supporting their wellbeing ranks high in Daraz’s corporate ethos, and the partnership with WECare is another step forward that furthers our efforts in this direction.”

With this partnership, WECare worldwide will also join the Daraz Donates platform, which will soon enable all Daraz users to donate to the meaningful work carried out by the organization in Sri Lanka.

Sharing her views on the partnership, WECare Worldwide Founder Dr. Janey Lowes added: “We are so excited for this partnership with Daraz which will enable the launch of a fully-equipped, world-class CNVR vehicle in Sri Lanka. Street dogs are not stray dogs. They live freely and happily on the street, with most having a safe place to sleep and a reliable food source. What they lack is access to healthcare when they need it most, which is where we come in. Roaming dogs have been a part of Sri Lankan culture for generations and our aim is to provide them with essential healthcare, timely vaccinations, and treatments whenever required, so that they could return to their communities as healthier animals.

“Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release (CNVR) is the backbone of everything we do here in Sri Lanka. It’s the most humane, sustainable, and impactful way of reducing the roaming dog population while keeping the current ones happy and healthy. Our greater goal is to deploy several CNVR vehicles to serve the millions of street dogs in the country and this partnership with Daraz is a great push in the right direction for finding lasting solutions to manage the street dog population and eradicating rabies in both animals and humans.”

WECare is a charity organization set up in 2014 by the UK vet Dr. Janey Lowes during her holiday in Sri Lanka. After witnessing the plight of street dogs, she shifted her life to the Island Nation and has since not only dedicated her time to improve the lives of street dogs, but has also encouraged many like-minded people to show kindness and love towards animals through education and volunteering programmes.

Founded in 2015, Daraz is South Asia’s leading e-commerce platform in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Myanmar. It empowers more than 100,000 active sellers with world-class marketplace technology to reach the fast-growing consumer class in a region of 500 million people. Through Daraz Express and Daraz Pay, it operates the most efficient and digitalized logistics and payments infrastructure in its markets. Daraz’s vision is to be a champion of South Asia, serving 100 million customers and businesses by 2030.