The Security in Numbers Database (SiND) is an event-based database that uses the general principles of event recording (Tilly 2002). The coding system is inspired by the approach of the Taback-Coupland model of analysing armed violence, which is built around the six Ws (Who did What to Whom, Where, When and with what Weapon). This method turns the elements that make up a violent event into independent and structured data points.

All events are coded with their date, location, and perpetrator along with information on the affected aid provider and victim attributes, where relevant. Aid providers are classified by category (e.g., United Nations agency or non-governmental organisation) and the aid sector they serve, such as health, education, food security, or protection. It covers violence as well as reported fraud or cyber crime.

The SiND records the effects of each event. These include effects on:

– a person (usually a staff member of a key aid service provider, such as an aid worker, health worker, or educator) and what happened (kidnapping, death, threat, crime etc.);

– the aid infrastructure (such as project sites, offices, warehouses, hospitals, or schools) and what happened (vandalism, looting, targeted attacks etc.);

– aid access constraints (recorded in the form of a range of external events, such as riots, demonstrations, or active conflict).

The SiND also records the effects on aid delivery (such as closure, suspension or delays in programmes), as far as known.