Funka in Bukarest panel

In South Eastern Europe, web accessibility has not been moving as fast as in western Europe and North America. There awareness is generally lower and the national regulations are often weak. All countries have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the societies are shifting its attitudes towards persons with disabilities. Still, progress is quite slow when it comes to increasing the level of digital accessibility.

These are some of the reasons behind the yearly SEEDIG conference, where different stakeholders from the region and elsewhere meet and learn from each other. Funka will contribute to the program with experiences from more mature markets as well as knowledge on EU regulations, procurement and user centric design including persons with disabilities.

We invited Susanna to share her web accessibility expertise and inspire stakeholders in South-Eastern Europe. With her extensive international and cross regional experience she could share good practices from other regions, contribute to awareness-raising among stakeholders and help shape digital accessibility recommendations for the region, says Dušan Caf, SEEDIG Executive Committee.

It is possible to participate at the conference online via webstream.

The SEEDIG 5 conference, program and information about online participation, opens in new window

About SEEDIG
The South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG) is a sub-regional IGF initiative dedicated to open, inclusive, and informal dialogue on internet governance issues in South Eastern Europe.

South Eastern Europe covers 12 countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, and, conditionally, Kosovo (which is not a recognised state). The neighbouring area extends to five of six  so called Eastern Partnership Countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine (stakeholders from Azerbaijan have not attended SEEDIG).

SEEDIG aims to:

  • Raise awareness and promote a better understanding of Internet governance issues among stakeholders from South Eastern Europe and the neighbouring area.
  • Build and strengthen the capacity of these stakeholders to actively participate in national, regional, and international Internet governance processes.
  • Facilitate multistakeholder discussions, exchanges, and collaboration on Internet related issues that are of particular concern for stakeholders in the region.
  • Strengthen linkages between the Internet governance realities in the region and the panEuropean and global Internet governance processes.