CENTINELA – Transparency to improve farm animal welfare

Millions of animals suffer in industrial systems without any reliable way to verify their living conditions.

Industrial animal agriculture has expanded rapidly over the past decades, resulting in billions of animals being raised and slaughtered under intensive conditions. These systems prioritize efficiency and cost reduction over animal protection, and while some corporate commitments and legal regulations exist, the enforcement conditions are insufficient which may lead to an insignificant or zero positive impact, and in the worst case, worsen the previous situation.

The problem is not only the scale, but the lack of transparency. Many producers do not disclose verifiable information about their practices, making it difficult for NGOs, regulators, journalists, and investors to assess compliance or push for improvements. As a result, even well-designed protection policies may have little to no real-world impact.

CENTINELA addresses this gap by focusing on transparency as a key bottleneck. By generating reliable, comparable information on industry practices, the intervention enables external actors to apply informed pressure and drive improvements in animal protection.

👥 Who Will Benefit

Primary beneficiaries:

• Animals raised in industrial farming systems (such as chickens, pigs, cows, and fish)
• Animals affected by poor welfare practices such as confinement, inadequate handling, and lack of oversight

Secondary beneficiaries:

• Animal protection NGOs (improved access to actionable data)
• Journalists and media (evidence for public reporting)
• Regulators and policymakers (better monitoring tools)
• Investors and corporate stakeholders (improved decision-making)

In Latin America: access to reliable information on farm animal welfare is highly limited.
Structural barriers include:

• Weak regulatory enforcement
• Limited monitoring capacity
• Low corporate transparency
• Lack of standardized reporting systems

This creates a critical gap: stakeholders cannot verify whether welfare commitments are being implemented in practice.

📊 Metrics Donors Can Understand

CENTINELA does not directly change industry practices—it enables change by improving access to information and optimizing impact for existing animal welfare interventions.

What this means in practice:

• More companies publicly evaluated on animal welfare transparency
• Increased visibility of both action and inaction (including non-response)
• Stronger evidence for NGOs to prioritize campaigns
• Greater pressure on companies to improve practices

Evidence-backed outcomes:

Participants (ecosystem actors such as NGOs) showed:

• Increased ability to identify high-priority corporate targets
• Improved access to standardized and comparable data
• Greater capacity to monitor corporate commitments
• Higher likelihood of using evidence in advocacy and campaigns

🌍 Why This Matters

Improving animal welfare at scale requires more than good intentions—it requires reliable information. Without transparency, even the best policies and commitments risk failing in practice.

By investing in CENTINELA, donors support a foundational piece of infrastructure that enables accountability across an entire industry. This approach does not act alone, but strengthens the effectiveness of all other efforts—making it a strategic and potentially high-impact lever for improving the lives of millions of animals.