Turning local action into lasting change.

About Us

A 100-Day Challenge is a structured sprint. A frontline team, the people who live closest to a problem, sets one ambitious goal that feels almost out of reach, and then has 100 days to reach it. Instead of long planning cycles and reports, teams test ideas quickly and adjust as they learn. The 100 days create urgency, and the urgency drives collaboration and innovation.

The model is used worldwide to address the most pressing social and environmental issues. The World of Impact holds the licence to run it in South Africa, where it is applied to the social, environmental and business challenges that need local momentum.

Outcomes

Every 100-Day Challenge is designed to achieve an impact that people can see and feel.  A court team aiming to clear backlog cases, a conservation entity aiming to reduce incidents of wildlife crime, and a municipality aiming to increase the recycling rate. This focus on real results is what separates a 100-Day Challenge from business as usual projects. Three areas of value that the 100-Day Challenges bring:

Performance

Dramatic Increases

in performance inspired by anreasonably ambitious 100-Day Goal.
WOI resources main

Insights about patterns

in the systems that enable or limit performance. These insights begin to result in system shifts, which leaders embed and amplify in post-100-Day actions.
Deeper connection

Transformative experiences

for the teams and leaders involved, including deeper connections with each other, a stronger sense of agency and confidence in leading change, and an appreciation for the power of working in a purposeful, autonomous, and agile team.

Sustained Impact

The results do not end when the 100 days are over.

Teams carry the new ways of working into their daily operations.

The leaders develop a scale and spread plan that could include subsequent rounds of 100-Day Challenges.

Leaders embed the changes that emerged during the sprint into the system through shifts in process, policy, and accountabilities.

An independent external evaluation of the 2021 to 2026 Ending GBVF 100-Day Challenges programme examined what lasts after the sprint ends: which changes are held, which spread, and what this means for the systems teams’ work in. The full evaluation report will be available in September.

Behind the Work

Three organisation working closely to create systematic impact:

Responsible for capacity building and quality assurance of the implementation of 100-Day Challenges. The World of Impact is the custodian of the 100-Day Challenge methodology, intellectual property and learning systems. It continually enhances its methodology and develops and manages learning and support systems to design and implement 100-Day Challenges. The World of Impact is a private sector training organisation with a social mission.

Responsible for developing institutional partnerships, raising funds, and catalysing positive social change and sustainable development throughout Southern Africa. Eish also serves as the Secretariat of the End GBVF Collective and supports capacity building and the implementation of 100-Day Challenges as needed. Eish Impact Africa, a Non-Government Organisation registered as a Public Benefit Organisation.

iResults is a consulting firm and has been building capacity in various sectors to implement 100-Day Challenges across South Africa and Worldwide since 2016. Aside from managing the End GBVF 100-Day Challenge programme, supported by the Ford Foundation, iResults provides 100-Day Challenge support to private sector organisations interested in using the model to accelerate the implementation of their strategies.  iResults is a private company.

Other Websites

Examples of 100-Day Challenges done by RE!NSTITUTE (previously the Rapid Results Institute) which inspires and partners with the World of Impact.
Easy-to-learn microstructures that enhance relational coordination and trust.
Schaffer Consulting works with leaders and teams to unlock organizational potential, attain breakthrough results, and develop critical capabilities.
100 Days of Action. A Lifetime of Change.

This information is confidential and proprietary to The World of Impact (Pty) Ltd. © 2026 The World of Impact (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved. Trademarks are owned by or licensed to The World of Impact (Pty) Ltd. Read our full disclaimer and privacy policy.

Thought starter reflection questions

Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:
  • When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift? 
  • When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
  • What was most surprising to you at the event?
  • What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
  • Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
  • How would you characterise the level of trust among participants in the meeting? To what extent did this shift as the meeting progressed? To what do you attribute this shift, if indeed it happened?

Thought starter...

Reflection Questions 

Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:

  • When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift? 
  • When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
  • What was most surprising to you at the event?
  • What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
  • Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
These are 100-Day Challenge Mentors. 

They did some work before you received the Challenge Note. This included:

  • Writing the Challenge Note, and making sure that the leaders of all the organisations represented on the team are comfortable with it – and committed to supporting the work of the team
  • Helping the leaders of these organisation recruit you and your colleagues to the team
  • Gathering some baseline data and other information that will help you and your teammates set your 100-Day goal and develop your plan.
  • Making sure all the preparations are made for a successful Lift-Off workshop, when you and your teammates will meet and get your 100-Day Challenge started. This includes venue, facilitation support, food, swags, comms, travel arrangements and whatever else is needed.

 

Mentors will participate in all or part of the Lift-Off Workshop, mostly at the start to provide context and answer questions, and at the end to give you and your teammates feedback about the goal and plan you develop.

During the 100 days following the Lift-Off Workshop, here’s what the Mentors will do:  

  • They will check in every two weeks with the team leaders to see how the team is doing and what support they and the team need.
  • They will keep other organisational leaders informed and engaged during the 100 days, and pull them in to help as needed.
  • They will participate in the last part of the Refuelling Workshop, halfway through the 100 days, to see what additional support the team needs, and to begin to plan with the team for sustainability and scale-up.
  • They will work with the team at the Sustainability Workshop to finalise recommendations on sustaining the results and building on the work of the team.