Transforming Government’s Ways of Working in Kenya

GovernanceHealth

Sep 17

The Challenge

In 2003, Kenya faced stalling economic growth and public distrust in the government. The Kenyan Government had an ambitious economic recovery strategy that used 100-Day Challenges, then Rapid Results Approach (RRA), to jump-start implementation and reform in critical areas. 100-Day Challenge coaches worked with government ministries to target improvement in government public service sectors across the country, focused on Agriculture, HIV/AIDS, Tourism, Security, and Water.

The Outcome

The Kenyan government used 100-Day Challenges to rethink ways of working in 25 of the 30 central government ministries. Over 175 local authorities have implemented 100-Day Challenges. The 100-Day Challenge methodology became one of the main tools for the government to test new reforms, improve service delivery, gain citizen trust, and achieve unprecedented results across the country. Coaches and teams adapted the process to their context and built their innovations around it. Thousands of 100-Day Challenges have been launched in Kenya since 2003 in practically every sector where government services have been targeted for improvement.

The Kenyan Government received international recognition and numerous awards for its focus on service delivery, including using the 100-Day Challenge methodology. Most notable were 100-Day Challenges in HIV/AIDS prevention and improving security in Nairobi. To date, 100-Day Challenges continue transforming results in water management, health, immigration, trade, agriculture, finance, and more.

HIV/AIDS Testing

135,551

individuals across 5 counties in Central Kenya underwent voluntary testing for HIV/AIDS

Farming

+59%

farmers with access to irrigation canals

HIV/AIDS Treatment

+93.7%

increase in the number of patients on antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS in the Western Province of Kenya

The Project detail

Starting in 2003, the Kenyan Government used 100-Day Challenges as a means to accelerate and strengthen their ambitious plans to transform several sectors. Nadim Matta, RE!NSTITUTE’s founder, and his team trained 30 Kenyan consultants in the 100-Day Challenge methodology to support the Kenyan Government to integrate the 100-Day Challenge methodology into their performance contracting and management process. The Kenyan Government continued to deploy the 100-Day Challenge coaches for several years and the 100-Day Challenge methodology became a way of working in the government across ministries and sectors. Since 2003, thousands of 100-Day Challenges have been launched in Kenya in numerous sectors where government services have been targeted for improvement.

100-Day Challenges helped to:

Accelerate implementation of plans and priorities;
Build support for large-scale change efforts by overcoming inertia and resistance to change;
Helps leaders adapt and refine strategies;
Reduce hidden risks inherent in long-term strategies;
Learn and discover in real time what works and what doesn’t
Build collaboration capacity across public and private sector stakeholders

“The key thing is that results are not determined by outsiders, but determined by the beneficiaries of the results. That is what it means to get quality results.”

Qimiao Fan, Lead Economist World Bank Institute Finance & Private Sector Development

“I used to have a committee of heads of departments and I would sit with them, and we would plan what we were going to do, but at times it was like we were speaking to ourselves. When we came to Rapid Results, it was a chain involvement, from the top to the bottom in terms of tasks, in terms of service, in terms of quick wins, in terms of time for delivery, and it made all the difference.”

Stanley Murage Special Adviser to the President of Kenya