Building Local 100-Day Challenge Capacity in the Dominican Republic

Justice, Training

adjustDominican Republic

Strengthening local capacity to implement 100-Day Challenges and improve governance systems across gender and justice.

The Challenge

In November 2017, RE!NSTITUTE began an exciting project in collaboration with the World Bank and the Instituto Técnologico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) to accelerate and deepen participative governance in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. RE!INSTITUTE worked with the World Bank to bring the 100-Day Challenge methodology to the Dominican Republic with two key objectives: strengthen local capacity to implement 100-Day Challenges and improve governance systems.

The Outcome

During this first phase, RE!NSTITUTE and INTEC trainee coaches implemented two 100-Day Challenges in the criminal justice system with incredible results. The two teams set an ambitious goal for themselves: to quintuple the number of aggravated robbery and gender violence cases resolved in just 100-Days.

By day 50 of the Challenge, both teams had almost achieved or exceeded their original 100-Day goal. The teams responded to their success by challenging themselves further and increasing their initial goals.

Gender Violence

215

Gender violence cases resolved

Robbery

1497

Aggravated robbery cases resolved

Victim Support

90 %

Victims of domestic violence receiving psychological support from day 1

The Project Detail

After training sessions with INTEC and interviews with key staff from the Attorney General’s Office, police, civil society, and more, two key areas of focus emerged in the justice sector: (1) aggravated robbery and (2) gender violence. Two 100-Day Challenge teams made up of more than 50 staff and leaders across seven institutions were brought together to work to exponentially increase the number of resolved cases in these categories.

Results from the 100-Day Challenge

The Gender Violence team:

Reduced the response time for victim complaints from 7 to 3 days by appointing a dedicated prosecutor and creating clear steps for victims to follow.
This resulted in 90% of victims receiving psychological and legal services from day 1.
The Challenge teams resolved 215 cases compared to 20 the 100 days prior, representing an 11x increase.

The Aggravated Robbery team made huge strides in ensuring that the accused were present at hearings, a significant problem previously, by coordinating with prisons and arranging transportation.

This led to an 86% effectiveness rate in the method that was developed.
The Challenge teams also resolved 1497 cases compared to 208 the 100 days prior, representing a 7x increase.

This initial collaboration between INTEC, the World Bank, and RE!NSTITUTE showed that the 100-Day Challenge methodology is extremely effective in leveraging and building the capacity of frontline multi-stakeholder teams to deliver tangible results that begin to chip away at the larger challenges a system faces. There is still work to be done in the Dominican Republic, and RE!NSTITUTE will continue to be a driving force in the movement for reform. In 2022, RE!NSTITUTE joined our partners once again to bring a second phase of the project to the Dominican Republic, this time with a focus on health and governance. Subscribe to our newsletter to get updates delivered straight to your inbox.

Partners