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The Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) have launched a new project aimed at making the internet more accessible and inclusive in Africa.
The Universal Acceptance (AU) Readiness in African Universities Project was launched in Accra on Thursday and seeks to develop systems that would enable internet users in Africa to browse the internet using their own local languages.
The project aims to equip African universities and research centres to develop the scripts and make local languages interoperable on the internet.
Mr Pierre Danjinou, the Vice President of Global Stakeholder Engagement for Africa – ICANN, expressed concern that millions of people on the continent were not using the internet. He stated that the project would help address the language barrier and make it possible for individuals who cannot communicate in English or French to use the internet.
Mr Danjinou emphasized that the project would ensure that data generated in Africa stayed within the continent. He said, “In Africa, there are more than 2,500 different languages. What it means is that if we are able to work on those scripts, local languages will be on the internet. In that case, you will search using your own local language. This means that people who have difficulty in English can use their own local language.”
Reverend John Ntim Fodjour, the Deputy Minister of Education, expressed his support for the project, saying it would help address equity aspects of internet access by enabling protocols and principles that promoted a “multilingual Internet.” He stated that it was crucial that young people, computer science students, IT staff, and related professionals were not left behind in the developments of the internet industry.
He added, “For our case in Ghana and Africa, Universal Acceptance and Email Address Internationalization will ensure that our email mailbox names can use characters in local languages and scripts.”
Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole, Secretary General of AAU, highlighted the significance of the project, saying it would help strengthen the accessibility of the internet across the continent, with a specific focus on making email systems and other communication platforms of Africa’s higher education institutions ready for Universal Acceptance and Email Address Internationalisation.
“AAU is strategically positioned to use its platform of 420 Vice-Chancellors and 420 Information Technology Directors that will champion the required changes to achieve universally accepted email systems, websites, and other digital platforms,” he said.