Digital Bangladesh En

In its election manifesto, the incumbent Awami League government declared a desire to make Bangladesh digital [by] 2021. This unprecedented political initiative provides an opportunity to use Information Communications and T echnology (ICT ) tools to further development, str engthen poverty reduction and improv e citizen’s quality of life. The Digital Bangladesh (DB) vision is being developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded Access to Information (A2I) Programme and is based in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). It envisions utilising ICT tools to increase socio-economic development by the year 2021, consists of four pillars: (i) developing human resources for the 21st century, (ii) connecting citizens in ways that is most meaningful, (iii) taking services to citizen’s doorsteps, and (iv) making the private sector and market more productive and competitive through the use of ICTs (Access to Information Programme 2009). The two key pillars of the DB vision— ‘connecting citizens’ and ‘facilitating pro-poor ser vices at the ‘ citizens’ doorstep’ — if successfully implemented will exemplify innovative and pluralist servi ce delivery models that cater to the poor. The context of ICT in Bangladesh As demonstrated in Box 1 and Table 1 below, Bangladesh has not kept up with ICT developments worldwide, even compared to other nations in a similar economic position, and the overall ICT infrastructure is poor. As it exists, the current state of ICT is woefully inadequate to support DB goals. Public sector ICT infrastructure and usage is quite meagre, with inadequate hardware resources and a lack of information technology (IT) expertise in most government offices. Man y of the existing PCs are outdated and insufficient DIGITAL BANGLADESH: THE BEGINNING OF CITIZEN CENTRIC E-GO VERNMENT? This summary is excerpted from a chapter of The State of Governance in BANGLADESH 2009 , an annual publication of the Institute of Governance Studies, BRAC University

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Digital Bangladesh En