Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law

The Social Conflict in Analysis Database (SCAD) contains information on protests, riots, strikes, and other social disturbances in Africa, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Whereas conflict data is generally available for large-scale events such as civil and international war, the purpose of this dataset is to compile information on other types of social and political disorder. Every country in Africa and the Caribbean Basin (with a population greater than 1 million) is covered from 1990 through 2013. The primary source of information for this dataset comes from searches of Associated Press and Agence France Presse newswires, as compiled bythe Lexis-Nexis news service.

This dataset provides data on literacy rates, primary and secondary school attendance rates access to improved water and sanitation, household access to electricity, and household ownership of radio and television. Unlike other datasets, notably the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI), this dataset provides data at the subnational level, specifically the first administrative district level. Furthermore, the data is comparable both within and across countries. This subnational level of data allows for assessment of education and household characteristics at a more relevant level for allocation of resources and targeting development interventions.