100-day-challenge

More than 360 Ending GBVF 100-Day Challenges have been completed across South Africa since 2021, and young people sit at the centre of many of them. This Youth Month, teams in colleges, municipalities and courts are showing what becomes possible when young people help shape the response to gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), rather than being treated only as those it harms.

One of the most significant findings from the five-year review of South Africa’s National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF is the concern that survivor impact is stalling.
The review found evidence of substantial effort across government departments, civil society organisations and many other stakeholders involved in implementing the NSP.

Many institutions and organisations already run projects that aim to respond to social problems. They develop strategies, allocate budgets, host activities and produce reports that demonstrate implementation progress. A 100-Day Challenge is different.

A 100-Day Challenge team is often described as a “dream team” because it brings together people who can genuinely move the needle within a short space of time. Many of these individuals work across operational environments and service delivery spaces where decisions, referrals and responses affect people in real time.

The Start-up Workshop is where the 100-Day Challenge team comes together for the first time. Together they explore the focus area and agree on what they want to achieve over the next 100 days. The workshop creates the foundation for how the team will work together and what kind of impact they want to make in the lives of survivors.

In 100 days, the Braamfischerville GBVF Action Team of the City of Johannesburg Department of Social Development reached over 1,000 residents across Region C and Region D, trained 25 community patrol volunteers, connected 40 survivors with psychosocial support, and got 20 survivors through a newly established drop-in reporting desk that had never existed before.

In 100 days, the Rapid Response Team at Winnie Mandela Regional Court finalised 21 cases across 19 court sittings, reduced an outstanding roll from 47 cases to 27, and cleared 8 backlog cases in a court that shares its judicial resources with three other courts competing for the same sitting days.

In 100 days, the Waterberg District Municipality team finalised 73.14% of GBVF cases in a district where the geography works against you.
That result matters more when you understand what they were working with.

The Ga-Kgapane Magistrate Court’s Buffalo Team entered the 100-Day Challenge with a targeted commitment to resolve outstanding maintenance matters and advance case movement across the roll. The period ultimately reflected notable progress in domestic violence matters, where all backlogged cases were finalised. This outcome emerged from a shared effort among the role-players responsible for administrative preparation, service of documents, and the sequencing of court dates.

The Department of Social Development (DSD) team for the Gert Sibande District undertook the End GBVF 100-Day Challenge with a specific focus on Pillar 4 (Response, Care Support, and Healing) and Pillar 2 (Prevention). Operating in the Msukaligwa Municipality, their goal was ambitious: to increase the number of victims of crime and violence receiving counselling from 3 to 15 per month. By the end of the race, the team surpassed this target, reaching 18 victims in Msukaligwa Municipality.