Kyiv, 10 July 2024 – Five hundred employees of the executive authorities and local self-government bodies from 12 regions of Ukraine have undergone training on the basics of web accessibility organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, with funding from Sweden. 

The two-day training course was held at the end of June in Rivne, Dnipro, and Cherkasy. Participants from another nine regions were able to participate in the training online.

Representatives of government institutions that create content and administer web resources were trained in writing texts, creating videos, and producing other content for websites that is accessible to all people, including those who are blind and use special assistive technologies such as screen readers.

“All Ukrainians should have access to the benefits of the digital state,” said Valeriia Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration.

“In addition to ensuring the digital literacy of the population, all digital products must take into account the requirements of web accessibility so that Ukrainians are able to use electronic services easily. To this end, with the support of our partners, we’re training civil servants in digital accessibility. This will make government products even more accessible to all people – including people with disabilities.”

Earlier, Ukraine improved its legal regulations on the digital accessibility of state web resources, with a new state standard for web accessibility coming into effect in 2022. All state bodies are obliged to bring their digital products into compliance with its requirements – the relevant Resolution No. 757 was adopted by the government in 2023. The training of civil servants in digital accessibility helps them acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to meet the new standards.

As part of the same effort, in February 2023 the first official Ukrainian translation of the WCAG 2.1 international web accessibility guidelines, which formed the basis of the state standard, was released. And at the same time, the educational series “Web Accessibility” was launched on the Diia.Osvita online education platform. The initiatives are designed to help domestic developers familiarise themselves with global web accessibility standards and facilitate their implementation. All initiatives were carried out by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine with support from the UNDP in Ukraine and with funding from Sweden.

The UNDP in Ukraine is a long-term partner of the Ministry of Digital Transformation in promoting digital accessibility in the country, emphasized Christophoros Politis, Deputy Resident Representative of the UNDP in Ukraine.

“In recent years, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, with the support of the UNDP and funding from Sweden, has implemented a number of important initiatives designed to stimulate the increase in digital accessibility to information and public services in the country,” Politis said. 

“This work is especially important given that the number of people with disabilities in the country is increasing due to the war, and we’re proud to assist the government in these efforts for the benefit of all Ukrainians. The latest studies on the basic accessibility of government websites show that our efforts are yielding positive results – the web accessibility of government resources is gradually increasing. We’re continuing our work in this direction so that all Ukrainians have equal access to digital products.”

The UNDP, in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, and with funding from Sweden, annually analyses the level of basic accessibility of 100 government websites to track progress in boosting accessibility. The latest analysis showed that the web accessibility of government online resources is gradually increasing. For the second consecutive year, in 2023 some 22% of government websites were analysed at a sufficient or high level of accessibility for people with disabilities, compared to 9% in 2021. Over two years, the vast majority of the sites analysed also improved their positions in all ten evaluation criteria.

Regional training sessions on web accessibility for civil servants were also held last year, with the support of Japan, in Vinnytsia, Lviv and Poltava.

Media inquiries

Yuliia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Communications Team Leader, yuliia.samus@undp.org