Hukoomi Wins “Access Certified Award”
The Qatar e-Government Portal (Hukoomi) has won the Access Certified Award from the Qatar Assistive Technology Center (Mada) for applying the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 AA (WCAG 2.0 AA) which aim to ensure that websites have accessible features for people with disabilities.The Award is often given to institutions that have websites that meet the international standards and which can be easily accessed and used by people with disabilities.Mada’s Award was received by the Government Portal Department Manager Mr. Tareq Al Emadi on Thursday, May 19; the day Global Accessibility Awareness Day is celebrated around the world.“Hukoomi places considerable attention to ensuring that all people with disabilities in Qatar benefit from the several advantages and potential of information and communications technology. At Hukoomi, we are glad to apply all guidelines and requirements related to online accessibility in order to make it easier for the disabled to reach all information and government services that Hukoomi provides,” said Mr. Al Emadi.“We thank Mada for its unremitting efforts to better serve people with disabilities in Qatar, aiming to ensure that they can access and use government websites. Mada does that by making sure that these websites meet all the requirements stated in the e-Accessibility Policy launched by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in 2011, in addition to meeting relevant global digital accessibility requirements,” he added.Mada CEO Mrs. Maha al Mansouri said, “We aim to increase the number of websites that are accessible by people with disabilities in Qatar; something that would make a massive change in terms of how far the disabled could easily access information through information and communications technology,”“Mada has a special team dedicated to regularly reviewing the global e-accessibility requirements and standards to ensure that government websites in Qatar are designed in a way that make them flexible and accessible by disabled people and the elderly, she added.“We would like to thank Hukoomi team for their commitment to applying global e-accessibility standards and guidelines. Hukoomi is counted among the most important government portals in Qatar due to the amount of content and information it contains, and which are needed by all people including the disabled. We at Mada encourage all public and private entities to develop their websites in a way that is accessible and usable by people with disabilities. The aim is move forward with achieving digital inclusion,” she continued.
