Persons with disabilities and older persons represent an average of 15% of any country's population. Most IGF members involved in promoting Internet usage in their respective countries face challenges of low levels of Internet adoption amongst these groups. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the first Human Rights Treaty of this millennium. A majority of countries participating in IGF have also ratified the CRPD which compels governments to implement policies that promote accessibility and encourage usage of the Internet amongst persons with disabilities.
Global surveys have demonstrated that a critical success factor for implementation is the multi-stakeholder participation in policy making. Based on those findings and the mandates of the CRPD, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs (G3ict) have just released model policies for ICT accessibility that place strong emphasis and suggest specific processes to developing policies based upon multi-stakeholder engagement.
The joint G3ict/DCAD workshop will be reporting on good practices and global data on multi-stakeholder engagement which demonstrate how such engagement can lead to better planning, implementation and results. The workshop will also discuss how multi-stakeholder engagement can be equally effective at both the international and national level, based upon the experiences of international agencies and standard development organizations such as ITU, G3ict, W3C, WIPO and UNESCO.
