January 2025: GARC Data Platform Featured User

Our first featured GARC Data Platform user for 2025 is Neighbourhood Woof from India. Neighbourhood Woof has been using the Vaccination and Sterilization Tracker (VST) and Bite Case Tracker (BCT) tools to collect and visualize their rabies-related data in the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India over the course of the last 12 months.

Below are some interesting figures relating to Neighbourhood Woof’s use of the Platform over the course of the last 12 months.

Number of owned roaming dog vaccinations tracked: 190.

Number of community-owned dog vaccinations tracked: 1,091.

Number of dog sterilizations tracked: 1,256.

We asked Ayesha Benn, the Chief Executive Officer of Neighbourhood Woof, some questions about their use of the Platform.

1. Briefly explain what rabies-related work you do?

As an organization empaneled by the Municipality to carry out stray canine birth control, we administer the anti-rabies vaccine to every dog we catch. To this end, we carry out regular sterilization and vaccination drives, encouraging local participation in this endeavor. Furthermore, we advocate for more stringent rabies control measures, working with the community and engaging with the authorities to improve surveillance and sampling where facilities are lacking.

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

The GARC Data Tools provide us a variety of benefits as they allow us to plot and visualize the number of dogs we sterilize and vaccinate on a daily basis on a map, which has not only improved our internal recordkeeping but is also extremely helpful for driving government policies. In addition, the use of the tools has helped us to seek support from potential donors and to acquire Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) support as it enables us to present our data in a streamlined manner which is more understandable for a layman and the general public. In addition, the dog bite tracker allows us to monitor dog bites in a given area and helps us formulate a plan to tackle the problem more efficiently.

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

Our work consists mostly of sterilizing and vaccinating street dogs and so the tool we have been using the most is the VST. As stated earlier, the tool allows us to visualize data on a map and gives us a picture of our work's impact on the city, which can then be used to drive government policies and also source potential funding.

GARC wishes to thank Neighbourhood Woof in India for their ongoing use of the GARC Data Platform.

If you are working towards rabies elimination and you are not part of our growing network of Platform users, why wait any longer? You can benefit from improved data collection and visualization – while also engaging with potential donors in a more meaningful way – in a few weeks.

Alternatively, if you are already an active user of the Platform, let us know by sending us an email and you could be featured too!