In 2016, the Commission, in Partnerships with United Nations Development Programmme (UNDP) commenced the process of developing a Gender and Social Inclusion Policy (GSIP) to mainstream special interest groups in all electoral processes. A series of inclusive and participatory workshops with key stakeholder groups, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) coupled with review of primary and secondary data of various policies documents, reports and international human rights instruments informing political participation aided in the preparation of the inception report and literature review document. Report of the challenges facing Special Interest Groups formed the basis for formulating the broad policy areas and the policy statements.

The draft policy was presented to the IEBC Commissioners and CEMS for scrutiny and input and later to the Technical Working Group (TWG) who provided vital feedback and further input. Their input has been incorporated in the document and it's now ready for validation by both internal and external stakeholders.

It is against this backdrop that the Commission through Directorate of Voter Education Partnerships &Communications held a one-day workshop in Nairobi with Directors and Manager to subject the draft policy to internal validation. The workshop provided the secretariat with an opportunity to scrutinize the document for accuracy and validity. A similar workshop with external stakeholders will be held at a later date.

Commissioner Prof. Abdi Guliye attended the validation workshop, alongside Directors, Managers and Nairobi County IEBC Staff, who gave their inputs and recommendations that will be incorporated in the draft policy.