Priorities for Accessible Comms@Sea for SSF

Recognizing that there may be a number of barriers to accessible communications at sea (comms@sea) solutions which exist for SSF, the Agenda for Accessible Comms@Sea Solutions for SSF activity sets out to co-develop, with an in international, multi-stakeholder community, a tiered list of priorities to enable accessible comms@sea for SSF, thereby reducing the risks associated with gaps in access to comms as well as necessary lifesaving as well as livelihood supporting data.

These priorities will be captured over the period Dec 2023 – Mar 2024 through synchronous as well as asynchronous engagement with contributors from the relevant stakeholders, leading up to a hybrid workshop, “Setting Priorities for Accessible Comms@Sea Solutions for SSF”, to be held in Trinidad and Tobago on 11-12 Mar 2024. During this Workshop, the Agenda Report will be finalized and submitted to the Project Partners for their approval and publishing to the international community.

The Agenda for Accessible Comms@Sea Solutions for SSF activity sets out to assemble a loose, global community to develop a tiered list of priorities across multiple stakeholder groups, to improve the accessibility of comms@sea for SSF. Its specific objectives are to:

1. Consult with multi-sectoral stakeholders on the issues, interests & possible solutions to increase the accessibility of comms@sea for SSF
2. Assess the accessibility of existing services, devices, etc. to SSF
3. Co-author & publish international priorities for accessible comms@ sea for SSF, following 2-day hybrid workshop (Trinidad; 11-12 Mar 2024)

The Agenda Report recognizes that digital accessibility and inclusion are multi-dimensional in nature, and proposed the following dimensions of focus for each priority:

1. Devices
2. Services
3. Capacity
4. Awareness & Adoption
5. Policy & Regulatory Environment    
   

These dimensions draw on existing evaluations of accessible, affordable communications, from agencies such as the ITU , Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) , Broadband Commission on Sustainable Development . As such, the gaps between what currently exists (the supply side) and what is required for accessible comms@sea (the demand side) are represented in Figure 1.

The Workshop’s objectives are to:

1. Develop a seed for action to foster SSF’s accessibility to communications to reduce risks while at sea
2. Specify a framework to assess the accessibility of communications at sea to SSF
3. Finalize the co-developed, Priorities Report, for publishing to the international community