Aidmatrix and CARE partnered together to
enhance CARE's Commodity Tracking System (CTS), thanks to support from the UPS
Foundation. Read the story from Tracy Allardice at CARE about the recent
workshop in Thailand where 4 CARE country offices convened to discuss the CTS
and its successful implementation in three locations in Djibouti.
Commodity
Tracking System Project Update at CARE
The Commodity Tracking System (CTS)
project held a workshop in February 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand with a group of
CARE staff from around the world, representing 4 country offices – CARE
Zimbabwe, CARE Kenya, CARE Bangladesh and CARE West Bank Gaza and
representatives from CARE USA and CARE Canada HQ. The objectives of the
workshop were to enhance the knowledge of the CTS, review the recent
enhancements, receive sign-off on the system, brainstorm about the further
development of the Distribution module and conduct a mini Train the Trainer
session. CARE Zimbabwe brought 26 months of experience with the CTS to
the workshop as they are the longest term users of the system and have
contributed significantly to the development and enhancements to the
system. CARE Kenya came with many questions about the system as
implementation planning is underway for the system to roll out in 5 locations
in Kenya later this year. The six locations are: 3 in Dadaab, 1 in
Nairobi and 1 in Kisi.
After the workshop the CTS project team
worked with CARE Zimbabwe to migrate their data to the latest platform of the
CTS so they can enjoy the enhancements to the system.
The team then moved to CARE Djibouti to
implement the system for three locations: Djiboutiville, Ali-Sabieh and
the refugee camps. Items being tracked are Medicines for the Health
programs where the central pharmacy is in Ali-Sabieh; therapeutic food for the
Nutrition program; construction related items for WASH programs serving the refugee
camps and host communities; and support supplies such as vehicle spare parts
and office supplies. Three CARE staff spent 5 days in training learning
how to input data into the system and 6 CARE management staff spent 1 day
reviewing the system and then several hours with hands on training on how to
generate meaningful reports.Funded through the generous support of UPS, CARE has worked with The Aidmatrix Foundation to create a system to help country offices track their inventory in a standardized manner. The system allows CARE to have global visibility of inventory around the world and know its value. Country Offices are able to manage the stock that is in the warehouses (track losses, excesses, inventory which might have been damaged, keep records of expiry dates and the system will warn the users when there are items which will be expiring soon, etc.), as well as track what is dispatched. Reports can be generated with the click of a button and used not only by management but also for donors. The system is currently being used to track CARE’s prepositioned emergency items, inventory in Haiti, Zimbabwe and Djibouti with plans to implement in Kenya and Chad later this year. For more information about this project, please contact Tracy Allardice – tallardice@care.org
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