News
UNU-EGOV and Georgia start new project
2020•11•25 Guimarães
BACKGROUND
The UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognizes the critical role which information and communication technologies (ICTs) play in enabling and empowering persons with disabilities (PwDs) and in ensuring that they enjoy full human rights and fundamental freedoms.
About one billion people or 15% of the world’s population have a disability or impairment which may affect the way they use the Internet and ICTs in general. The disability prevalence is higher for developing countries and approximately one-fifth of the estimated global total, or between 110 million and 190 million PwDs, experience significant disabilities (World Bank, 2020). PwDs are also more likely to experience adverse socio-economic outcomes such as less education, poorer health outcomes, lower levels of employment, and higher poverty rates (World Bank, 2020).
Following Georgian ratification, the CRPD entered into force on 12 April 2014.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of the “Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities in Georgia” project is to make specific recommendations for the improvement of web accessibility for People with Disabilities (PwDs) and make government online content, websites, apps, services easier to use for all Georgians. The findings of this survey will be used to formulate the project’s recommendations and facilitate Georgia’s commitments to the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The recommendations will be submitted to the Parliament of Georgia, the Government of Georgia, and key civil society organisations in early 2021. The project is funded by the United Nations Development Programme in Georgia.
ACTIVITIES
The project activities include:
Establish the Georgian state of affairs and global best practice (including simple usability and WCAG AA web accessibility test of selected public websites in Georgia, Denmark, Portugal, UK and USA).
Develop a set of guidelines including legal and regulatory recommendations and underpinning governance model.
Carry stakeholder consultation (online surveys for PwDs and stakeholders plus virtual workshop).
Final activity report.
OUTCOMES
The project outcomes include:
Report on the Georgian state of affairs and global best practice.
Report with recommended guidelines plus an executive summary presentation of the final report. Consultation workshop including workshop agenda, invitation letter, slide deck, plus summary report.
2020•11•25 Guimarães