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.

A 100-Day Challenge is a structured sprint. A team of frontline workers who are closest to the problem sets one ambitious, survivor-focused goal and works intensely for 100 days to reach it. They test new ideas, partnerships and processes, move quickly when something works, pivot when something doesn’t, all with the aim of localising the National Strategic Plan on GBVF in the places where people live, study and seek justice. Three cycles of Ending GBVF 100-Day Challenges are currently underway, with two more launching in July.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges have become some of the most active spaces for this work. Teams there concentrate on three focus areas for their 100-Day Challenge: encouraging more survivors to report, making sure those who come forward receive care and support, and holding perpetrators accountable.

Northlink College ran its challenge across all seven campuses with a clear reporting goal, working to lift the number of students who safely report incidents from a baseline of three to four a month towards seven to eight. The team paired this with dialogue sessions known as Incoko, trained counselors that students could approach with confidence, and formed partnerships with Pride Shelter, Saartjie Bartman Shelter and Inceba, so that reporting connected students to real services.
Boland TVET College’s “Reset 100” team reached an estimated 1,400 new students across five campuses through first-year orientation, bringing police and victim empowerment services directly to young people. Their “Wednesdays in Black” practice turned an occasional conversation into a weekly, visible presence, and their pledge banners travelled to sport matches and regional meetings to widen the message beyond campus.

At Tshwane University of Technology, the Faculty of Arts and Design used artivism, the fusion of art and activism, creating and publishing work over 100 days that opened honest conversation about GBVF. Performances such as Not My Size, built from the real words shouted at women in the street, pushed audiences to reflect, and gave students a way to speak when direct words felt too difficult.

Municipalities are opening governance itself to young people. Stellenbosch Municipality inaugurated its first Junior Town Council at the end of May 2025, giving young leaders a formal seat alongside councillors as part of its 100-Day Challenge on GBVF prevention through youth leadership. “This initiative gives young leaders a seat at the table, empowering them to learn about the inner workings of local government, get involved in community outreach and represent the voices of their peers,” said Mayor Jeremy Fasser.

In the courts, previous teams in Limpopo hosted moot court sessions for high school learners, where students saw how sexual offence cases are run and what minimum sentences apply on conviction. Teaching young people that violence is wrong is one thing. Showing them, step by step, how justice works makes the law tangible and plants the idea that fairness can be demanded.

Young people are among those most affected by GBVF, and they are also among the most able to shift the culture around it. When they help design the response, they reach peers in language and spaces that adults often cannot, and they build habits of accountability and care that outlast any single sprint.

These are the seeds behind the numbers. Behind more than 360 challenges since 2021 are young people who have decided that ending GBVF is work they will help lead, this Youth Day and beyond.

ENDS.

RELEASE DATE: 19 MAY 2026 

A new cycle of Ending Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) 100-Day Challenges is launching across South Africa, with local teams from Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng starting an intensive 100-Day implementation cycles focused on improving survivor outcomes within the justice, local governance and education sectors.

To launch their 100-Day projects, local teams such as courts, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVETs) and local municipalities will be hosting their Start-up Workshops bringing together frontline teams to set ambitious goals linked to specific GBVF impact areas within their institutions and communities.

This marks the fifth year of the national Ending GBVF 100-Day Challenge movement, which has become one of the country’s largest programmes for accelerating local action through focused collaboration, rapid implementation and continuous learning.

“This wave  approximately builds on 360 previous Ending GBVF 100-Day Challenges organised since 2022, which have documented encouraging outcomes linked to survivor support, reporting systems, accountability processes and access to services,” shares Nomgqibelo Mdlalose, Movement Navigator for the programme.

Within the justice sector, courts participating in 2025 challenges recorded significant improvements in case management and survivor support. Thohoyandou Court finalised 889 of 1,039 cases, reaching an 86% clearance rate. Ga-Kgapane, Nkowankowa, and other teams eliminated all domestic violence and maintenance backlogs, directly reducing waiting periods for survivors seeking protection orders and maintenance support.

Local governance teams have also seen significant results linked to prevention, economic empowerment and reporting access. In the Eastern Cape, the Department of Social Development trained 70 survivors and provided complete starter packs that included sewing machines, laptops and workplace placements to support income generation opportunities. The King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality partnered with the taxi industry to brand 100 taxis with GBVF prevention messaging while securing public pledges from taxi men. In Stellenbosch, teams established trauma rooms within police stations and introduced unmarked transport vehicles to improve survivor dignity and confidentiality. The West Rand challenge created three new reporting channels and increased case reporting by 30%.

Education sector teams focused strongly on reporting systems, peer support and accountability processes within campuses and colleges. Maluti TVET College reduced reported bullying by 78% and cyberbullying by 63%. Majuba TVET College trained 127 peer educators and increased formal GBVF case recordings from an average of four or five annually to 23 reported cases. West Coast College formalised 11 partnerships with SAPS, clinics and NGOs, while more than 13,000 students across participating institutions were reached through conversation-based engagements and awareness activities.

The 2026 cycle will continue focusing on practical barriers affecting survivors within local systems.

Justice sector teams will work on improving finalisation rates, reducing withdrawal rates, addressing case backlogs and strengthening the court experience for survivors navigating maintenance matters, protection orders and sexual offences processes. Local governance teams will focus on increasing access to referral pathways, strengthening reporting systems, linking vulnerable groups to economic opportunities and reducing GBVF incidents within identified hotspot areas. Education sector teams will focus on increasing reporting, improving support systems for survivors and strengthening accountability and deterrence mechanisms within institutions.

“The End GBVF 100-Day Challenges exist to accelerate lasting impact in our communities where we will see an enhanced capacity to address GBVF and hopefully a significant decrease in GBVF incidents,” adds  Mdlalose. “They are designed to encourage multisectoral collaboration to localise the National Strategic Plan (NSP) to end GBVF.”

RELEASE DATE: 26 March 2026

More than 30 systems leaders from local municipalities and TVET colleges joined the first training cohort for the 2026 Ending Gender-based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) 100-Day Challenges on 17 to 18 March at Steve Tshwete Local Municipality in Mpumalanga.
The End GBVF 100-Day Challenges are locally led initiatives that drive rapid, results-oriented action primarily within three critical ecosystems: local government, education, and the justice cluster. Taking on these 100-Day Challenges, multi-stakeholder teams – which can include (but are not limited to) representatives from SAPS, NGOs, social workers, students and staff, traditional councils, local municipalities, and GBVF survivors – work towards bold, time-bound goals aligned with the National Strategic Plan on GBVF.
“The 100-Day Challenge model is designed to break the cycle of overplanning that holds institutions back from implementing. Teams set a time-bound, measurable goal, assemble their people and move. The 100-Day Challenge creates the conditions for rapid implementation, frontline innovation and collaboration among people that are closest to the problem, and where survivors and communities need it most,” says Nomgqibelo Mdlalose, Movement Navigator for the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges
2025: Consolidated impact across courts, municipalities and campuses
In Limpopo, participating court teams finalised over 1,600 domestic violence cases in 100 days, achieving an 86% reduction in their case backlog. Ga-Kgapane cleared all domestic violence backlogs by verifying addresses at filing. Nkowankowa eliminated all maintenance and domestic violence backlogs plus 80% of divorce cases through daily information sharing with SAPS.
Eastern Cape DSD trained 70 survivors with complete starter packs (sewing machines, laptops, workplace placements, cooperative linkages). Waterberg finalised 73% of cases using virtual coordination across vast distances. West Rand established 3 reporting channels and increased case reporting by 30% through mobile apps. Braamfischerville engaged 1,000+ residents with 25-volunteer patrols and survivor-led support circles. Drakenstein created a permanent GBVF Hub with child-friendly therapy rooms.
In the TVET sector, 69 campuses completed their End GBVF 100-Day Challenges. Majuba TVET College reached over 4,000 students and staff, trained 127 peer educators and 52 staff members, and recorded 23 formal GBVF reports through newly trusted reporting channels. Maluti TVET College reported that the number of students experiencing bullying dropped by 78% after targeted awareness sessions. Gert Sibande TVET College recorded a 27% increase in GBVF case reporting and a decrease in case withdrawals after implementing a rapid response protocol.
Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, the venue for this year’s first training, won the SALGA Award of Excellence in recognition of its GBVF work in partnership with the End GBVF 100-Day Challenge and UN Women in 2023 and 2024.
2026: Building the next generation of local GBVF responders
The leaders trained in the first cohort will now return to their communities to convene multi-stakeholder teams, select their area of focus aligned to the National Strategic Plan on GBVF, and launch their 100-Day Challenges on 18 May 2026. Importantly, these interventions will be designed to respond directly to the gaps highlighted in the NSP five-year review report, ensuring that local action is both targeted and responsive to where progress has been uneven or insufficient.This training cohort is the first of several planned for 2026 as the programme continues to expand.
“We are not asking teams to write another plan,” says Mdlalose. “We are asking them to set a survivor impact goal that feels almost impossible and then move on it with everything they have. The 100-Day Challenge exists because we cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions. What we can do is act, learn, adapt and deliver results that survivors can feel in 100 days.”