Qatar's Mada Center paired a 2011 e-Accessibility Policy with government audits and training, raising websites' average accessibility score to 92% across 42 agencies by 2019, and helping Qatar rank 1st of 137 countries on the 2020 UN DARE Index.
92 %
Average government-website e-accessibility score, 2019 (2019)
35+ entities
Government entities covered, 2016 (2016)
42 entities
Government entities covered, 2019 (2019)
1st of 137 countries
UN DARE Index ranking, 2020 (2020)
Details
Maturity
Established
Promoter
Mada Assistive Technology Center Qatar, with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
Period
2010–present (national policy 2011; 92% score reported 2019; DARE Index #1 in 2020)
Keywords
digital accessibility, disability inclusion, government ICT, telecommunications policy
Context
Mada — the Assistive Technology Center Qatar — was established in 2010 as a public-private partnership between ICTQatar, Qatar's two main telecom operators, Microsoft and Qatar National Bank; in 2011 the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology issued Qatar's National e-Accessibility Policy, one of the first policies of its kind in the Middle East.
Activities
Rather than leaving compliance to individual ministries, Mada ran direct consultations, audits and training with government entities, starting with more than 35 entities in 2016 and expanding to 42 by 2019, and continues to run the country's accessibility certification scheme.
Results
The average government-website e-accessibility score rose to 92% by 2019. In the second edition of the UN G3ict Digital Accessibility Rights Evaluation (DARE) Index, released in 2020 and covering 137 countries, Qatar ranked first worldwide.
Conclusions
Mada is now recognised regionally as a centre of excellence in Arabic digital accessibility, with government sites such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Social Development each receiving Mada's 'Access Certified' accreditation.
Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Mada Assistive Technology Center Qatar, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
Conditions for success
Dedicated resourced accessibility institution rather than relying on generic guidelines alone
Direct consultations, audits and training with government entities
Independent international verification (UN DARE Index #1 ranking)
Common failure modes
No independent audit of the 92% score itself beyond the DARE Index's separate methodology
Do you run this practice?
Claim it —
verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.
Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.