Acknowledgements

In 2020, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) launched the Arab Digital Inclusion Platform (ADIP) to help policymakers in Arab States to develop and/or update their national e-accessibility policies and technical guidelines in line with their nationally determined priorities, and to help bridge the digital divide and enable all members of society to access information and communications technologies (ICTs). The activities under this project form part of the work of the Cluster on Statistics, Information Society and Technology, directed by Mr. Juraj Riecan, and the Cluster on Population, Gender Equality, and Inclusive Development, directed by Ms. Mehrinaz el Awady.

As part of the ADIP project, development of the national e-accessibility policy template for the Arab Region was overseen by Ms. Mirna el Hajj Barbar and Mr. Nawar Al-Awa, who supervised the design of the template and coordinated activities and contributions from the project team, made revisions as necessary, and invited comments from colleagues at ESCWA, namely Mr. Alaa’ Sebeh, Ms. Sumaya Almajthoub and Ms. Zahr bou Ghanem.

The project team expresses particular appreciation to Mr. Rashad Kamel, ESCWA consultant, for his diligent work to prepare the draft of this report, gather and analyse available data and undertake other related tasks, all in challenging circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lastly, the team would like to thank all representatives of and experts from Arab States who participated in the online consultation meeting on 10-11 November 2020 and offered their valuable comments on this document.