How we build a digital state accessible to all
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A barrier-free space is impossible without digital accessibility. While most of the information and services we consume online, all people should have unimpeded access to them. Especially when it comes to state web resources, which have no alternative.
This, in particular, is reflected in the National Strategy for the Creation of a Barrier-Free Space in Ukraine for the period up to 2030. In the document adopted in 2021, at the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska, digital accessibility was defined as one of six key areas.
Since the beginning of the creation of the Ministry of Digital, we have been striving to build the most convenient country for the provision of public services. However, we do not only build convenient services – we strive for every Ukrainian man and woman to have equal access to them.
That is why, together with our partners, we are working to increase the web accessibility of all government digital resources. In recent years, together with UNDP and Sweden, we managed to move the situation with web accessibility in the public sector. These changes will stimulate state bodies to become increasingly barrier-free in the digital dimension and bring the country closer to European standards.
Changed the legislation to meet global requirements
Legislation that would regulate web accessibility appeared in Ukraine not so long ago. The state standard in this area was approved only in 2016. It was based on international guidelines for web accessibility (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG, version 2.0), which are now outdated for developed countries.
Only in 2019 was the standard made mandatory for executive authorities. However, the international guidelines that formed its basis were never officially translated. So Ukrainian developers did not have full access to them.
It was also not about the availability of mobile applications – this area was not regulated at all.
In order to bring Ukrainian legislation into line with international standards, we have developed a new state standard. It entered into force on June 15, 2022.
The new Ukrainian DSTU duplicated one of the leading standards in the world – the European EN 301 549 of the same name. It was based on a newer version of international guidelines (WCAG 2.1).
These recommendations were officially translated into Ukrainian for the first time. From now on, Ukrainian developers can freely study modern global advice on how to create online content in an accessible, native language.
We are not limited to websites only – the new state standard also included web accessibility requirements for mobile applications and electronic documents for the first time.
In July of this year, the Government adopted Resolution No. 757 to oblige executive authorities to comply with the requirements of the new state standard when creating or modernizing existing web resources. In a few months, they started transferring it to the central and regional bodies of executive power. This work is ongoing.
We train civil servants to help comply with new requirements
It is not enough to change the legislation – it is necessary for civil servants to know how to implement it.
To do this, we conduct trainings for employees of state authorities at various levels. The main focus is on managers of state web resources and communication workers, because they are the ones who most often create the online content of government bodies.
Our goal is that every public servant who works with government web products understands why web accessibility is important and knows how to apply its basic requirements.
About a thousand civil servants have already been covered. This is just the beginning. In addition to the central level, this year piloted training for employees of state bodies and local authorities in the regions.
And so that every civil servant could independently learn web accessibility, a special online course was developed for the Diya.Osvita platform. It contains all the necessary guidelines to teach how to make an online product barrier-free.
Based on the educational course, a short guide on web accessibility was created. It is not necessary to work in the civil service to use these materials. They will be useful to absolutely everyone: designers, SMM specialists, site developers, videographers.
We analyze accessibility to create barrier-free electronic services
It is important for us that all Ukrainians can use Diya and all state electronic services without exception.
That is why all newly created digital services and web resources of the Ministry of Digital Affairs are checked by web accessibility specialists at the design stage.
We conducted a full audit of the Diya ecosystem. It was fundamental for us to make sure that people with visual, hearing or motor impairments do not face barriers when using the necessary public service.
Fixing detected web accessibility errors is a long process. It’s much more efficient and faster to test web accessibility early on when you’re building a product than it is to troubleshoot issues later. They were convinced of this on their own experience.
We study our own and foreign experience
Annually, for three years in a row, we analyze the basic accessibility of state websites. This helps to track progress in improving web accessibility in the public sector, and to tell government agencies which errors are most common and how to fix them.
As an example, 100 websites of the main central and local state authorities, which are most often used by citizens, were taken.
At the beginning of 2023, a positive trend was noticed: 73 sites out of 100 analyzed had basic accessibility at an average level and above. In 2021, this figure was only 61 sites out of 100.
This shows that the web accessibility of state websites is gradually increasing, and our work is yielding results.
The analysis is carried out on the basis of a methodology specially developed for civil servants. With its help, they can independently check the availability of their institution’s web products. This does not require special knowledge – everything is intuitive and simple.
In addition, they analyzed how web accessibility (in particular, mobile applications) is regulated in European and other leading countries. It is important for us to know foreign experience in order to borrow best practices.
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We are convinced that in a digital state, nothing should prevent free access of citizens to information and public services.
The changes we are initiating will lay the groundwork to drive a fundamental change in web accessibility in the public sector. However, this work should not be limited to state institutions.
We want to create a trend for web accessibility – so that having an accessible website and mobile application is a “sign of good tone” for every institution, business, and store. Not to mention that free access to information is about basic human rights.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, specially for UP. Life
Publications in the “View” section are not editorial articles and reflect exclusively the author’s point of view.
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