Accra: E-Governance and Internet Governance Foundation for Africa (EGIGFA), a civil society organization focused on internet governance and E-Governance, has joined the global community in celebrating this year's Universal Acceptance (UA) Day. UA is a technical requirement ensuring that all valid domain names and email addresses, regardless of script, language, or character length, are equally usable by all internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems.
According to Ghana News Agency, the Universal Acceptance Day offers a platform for local, regional, and global communities and organizations to promote UA awareness and encourage its adoption among key stakeholders. The day features awareness, training, academic curriculum, adoption, and strategy sessions organized by regional and local organizations, the Universal Acceptance Steering Group (UASG), global partners, and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
The 2025 Ghana Universal Acceptance Day Training Workshop was organized by EGIGFA in partnership with stakeholders such as the Association of African Universities (AAU), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Ghana Domain Name Registry (GDNR), and ICANN. Mr. Raymond Mamattah, Founder/President of EGIGFA, highlighted in his opening address that the UA Day concept was developed by UASG and strongly supported by ICANN. He emphasized the importance of UA in Africa due to the continent's diverse languages, some of which have unique scripts.
Mr. Mamattah expressed the necessity for digital inclusion, stating that systems must be capable of processing and accepting various scripts, particularly non-Latin ones, in emails and domain names. He expressed enthusiasm for the year's Ghana UA day being an adoption training, encouraging participants to implement necessary system updates to ensure UA compliance.
Professor Olusola Oyewole, Secretary General of the Association of African Universities (AAU), stated that Universal Acceptance is essential for building an inclusive and multilingual internet. He emphasized that UA is crucial for Africa, home to over 2,000 languages, and is integral to the continent's digital future.
Mr. Wisdom Kwasi Donkor, Executive Director of the Ghana Domain Name Registry (GDNR), reiterated the importance of UA as a global effort to ensure seamless functionality of domain names and email addresses across all platforms. He stressed that UA is an ongoing transformation requiring collaboration among government, academia, developers, private sector actors, and civil society. He affirmed GDNR's commitment to leading this transformation both locally and globally.
