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On the eve of the 3rd Africa Media Convention, UNESCO is organizing a tailored workshop specifically for broadcast and media executives on “Disability Equality in the Media”, to be held in Accra, Ghana, on 14 May 2024, from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm (GMT). 

The event is an excellent opportunity for top managers, senior editors, and other executives working in the African broadcast and media industry to gain insights on the preferences of audiences, customers, and users with disabilities. The workshop will cover the importance of recognizing persons with disabilities as valuable sources of information and the benefits of adopting inclusive editorial and workplace policies and practices. The relevance of intersectionality in exploring diverse socio-cultural, political, and economic issues will encourage newsrooms to continue their investigations and to tackle new stories. In addition, participants will be able to explore the preferences of digital consumers with disabilities through practical recommendations for the application of emerging digital solutions in compliance with the international technical standards for information and web accessibility. 

A greater diversity in the media provides new opportunities for media organizations to better understand their audiences, produce more relevant content for them, and deliver effective services. In the workplace, diversity also increases the professionalism, creativity, and innovation, as well as critical thinking and understanding of the richness of society. This, in turn, helps to attract new audiences, to create a demand for quality programming and advertising production, and to improve the accessibility and usability of media content by using the full potential of emerging digital technologies. Consequently, with new audiences and costumers, new revenue streams are created, leading to greater viability and sustainability in the media industry.

It is therefore important that managers, editors, technical staff, and other stakeholders in the media industry gain a deeper understanding of the needs and preferences of target audiences, especially those who are often underrepresented by the media. This is the case of persons with disabilities, that correspond to 16% of the world’s population. This is an impressive number that should be recognized not only as a potential audience, but also as users and customers, and therefore can represent a significant increase in any media organization’s reach and revenue. 

Agenda 

9:30 – 10:30 | Opening session 

10:30 – 11:45 | Part I. Editorial content and equitable media programming  

11:45 – 12:45 | Part II. Making media content and operations accessible 

14:00 – 15:00 | Part III. Inclusive management practices 

15:00 – 16:30 | Part IV. Roundtable discussion on promoting disability equality in Africa 

16:30 – 17.00 | Closing session  

Resources 
 

• 3^rd African Media Convention Website ()
• Event: Disability Representation, Accessibility, and Inclusive Management in African Media (16 May 2024, Ghana)
• UNESCO Webinar | Exclusive Preview - Disability Equality in Media (link)
• Recording of UNESCO Webinar | Exclusive Preview - Disability Equality in Media held on 6 December 2023 ()
• UNESCO Meeting Report: Webinar | Exclusive Preview: Disability Equality in Media () 
• UNESCO Disability Equality in the Media Webpage (link) 
• UNESCO Programme Outline - Building media capacities to establish linkages between equality, diversity and inclusion for persons with disabilities () 
• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities () 
• UN Disability Inclusion Strategy () 
• The Americans with Disabilities Act () 
• EU Web Accessibility Directive () 
• Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services ()