This Tool Saves You From Group Member’s List in excel Hell when registering a CBO/ SHG.

If you’ve ever tried registering a community group — whether it’s an SHG (Self-Help Group) or a CBO (Community-Based Organization) — at the official portal

👉 https://cdmis.socialprotection.go.ke:8002/selfregistration/communitygroupregistration
you already know where the real battle begins.

It’s not the portal.
It’s not the approval.
It’s not even the group name.

No — the nightmare lives in that Excel members list they want you to upload.

The Social Protection Portal is picky with the format — even a tiny mismatch — their system hits you with the dreaded:
“Validation Failed”
…even after you’ve spent hours squeezing your members into their strict template.

Most people get stuck here. Not because they don’t have members — but because the Excel format is unforgiving.

The Required Member’s List in Excel Format

Their template isn’t just a table — it’s a landmine. Every row and column must behave exactly the way the system expects.

Here’s what their member’s list in Excel file MUST contain:

Mandatory Columns (in this exact order):

1. First Name
2. Middle Name
3. Last Name
4. Identity Number (ID number only, no spaces or text)
5. Date of Birth (formatted as YYYY-MM-DD)
6. Gender (Male / Female / Intersex — nothing else accepted)
7. Email Address (must be valid format, even if it’s simple Gmail)
8. Mobile Number (2547… format — not +254, not 07…)
9. Member Role (Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Member, etc.)
10. Disability (None / Yes — with a brief explanation if Yes)

And the rules they don’t tell you upfront:

• No merged cells
• No hidden rows
• No colored headers
• No blank rows in between
• No formulas — values only
• No extra spaces before or after names
• Dates must be actual Excel dates, not text
• Gender must match their approved member’s list in excel exactly
• Mobile numbers MUST begin with 2547

Miss even one detail and the whole file gets rejected like it’s allergic to your effort.

Why People Keep Failing Validation

Because the template is unforgiving, and even tiny typos or “invisible” formatting issues make the system reject the file — sometimes without explaining what’s wrong.

You fix one thing, upload again…
Error.
Fix again…
Error.
Repeat until your patience resigns itself from public service.

So We Built a Better Way — A Tool That Solves the Entire Problem

After watching people suffer with the Excel template, I figured:

Why not eliminate the frustration completely?
Why not let people fill out their member’s list online and export a guaranteed-correct file?

So we built exactly that:

✨ A tool that helps you fill out your SHG or CBO members list step-by-step
✨ Validates everything for you — live
✨ Exports a clean Excel file that 100% matches the government format
✨ Guaranteed to pass validation at CDMIS

No more manual editing.
No more hidden errors.
No more guessing what the system wants.

Just fill → download → upload → done.

Try out the Member’s List in Excel Tool

Updates;

– As of 24th of January 2026, you can now upload and validate/edit your member’s list using the tool.

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