Draft ECOWAS ICT Accessibility Policy (2018) v1 post Burkina Faso and Gambia Workshops
domain. This includes external (public-facing or private) and internal (closed community)
sites. That is, conformance is required for all internet, intranet and extranet sites.
7.4.2
Principles
Web accessibility in the ECOWAS is underpinned by the general principles of this policy
and furthermore by the four principles of web accessibility for PwD8:
(a)
Perceivable – Information and user interface components must be
presented to users in ways they can perceive. This means that users must
be able to perceive the information being presented (it can’t be invisible to all
of their senses);
(b)
Operable – User interface components and navigation must be operable.
This means that users must be able to operate the interface (the interface
cannot require interaction that a user cannot perform);
(c)
Understandable – Information and the operation of user interface must be
understandable. This means that users must be able to understand the
information as well as the operation of the user interface (the content or
operation cannot be beyond their understanding); and
(d)
Robust – Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably
by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This
means that users must be able to access the content as technologies
advance (as technologies and user agents evolve, the content should remain
accessible).
7.4.3
Objectives/measures
Recognising the importance of broadband as a means for citizens to participate in the
information society, the intent of this policy is to provide effective communication via the
web for PwD. ECOWAS Member States will ensure this through:
(a) Conducting baseline research on PWD’s use of the internet in their countries;
(b) Putting in place mandatory measures to ensure that PwD have access, on an
equal basis with others, to public sector web sites services, applications, and
contents;
8ISO/IEC
40500:2012, Information technology – W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG) 2.0 level AA
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