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Country ICT Scenario: Bangladesh. Aminul Islam & Saleh Khan UNDP Bangladesh. Regional ICT for Development Programme Officer’s Workshop Kulal Lumpur, Malaysia 9 – 13 December 2002. ICT Scenario: Institutional.
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Country ICT Scenario:Bangladesh Aminul Islam & Saleh Khan UNDP Bangladesh Regional ICT for Development Programme Officer’s Workshop Kulal Lumpur, Malaysia 9 – 13 December 2002
ICT Scenario: Institutional • Ministry of Science and Technology renamed to Ministry of Science and ICT with new mandate • Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission set up to provide guidance and policy inputs in the sector • National ICT Policy formulated • ICT related activities seen as the next big thing in terms of export earnings and national development • No duties / taxes on computer hardware and software since1998
GoB’s ICT Policy • Prime Minister declares ICT as the “Thrust Sector” in National Development Plan and “the key-driving element for socio-economic development” • Aims at building an ICT driven nation by 2006 • Broad based policy that stresses on human resource, infrastructure and enabling environment development
Bangladesh: Successes • IT parks developed by NGOs and CSOs • BRAC has set up rural public libraries and is in process of linking these to the Internet • Test case IT village set up by Grameen • Private sector initiatives in telemedicine • Government actively mainstreaming IT education at primary / secondary level • Cellular phone overtook limited available fixed landlines in 2001 to facilitate telecommunication in remote villages
Bangladesh: Obstacles • Lack of high speed access to the Internet • Lack of telecommunication infrastructure • Lack of legal / financial environment to support e-Commerce • Inexperience in catering to the global software market and to compete in it
CO Bangladesh • ICT for Development in process of being main streamed in practice area programmes / projects • Task force formed to provide policy guidance to the CO by January 2003 • Has IT / ICT components in some of its projects with SDNP being the only true ICT4D programme • Office Intranet (OfficeNet) developed to facilitate knowledge networking / collaboration in the CO
Mandate: ICT4D Task Force • To identify feasibility of undertaking ICT4D programmes / projects in Bangladesh • To identify sectors for intervention in Bangladesh and identify development niches to cater to • To identify mechanisms facilitating knowledge networking with SURFs and APDIP • To expand partnership with other development actors in the country as well as with civil society and NGO partners
Upcoming ICT Initiatives • SPPD under formulation with the assistance of ITU to assist telecom regulatory reforms • Pipeline project on e-Governance, through the ICT-TTF, to promote SMEs as a model of poverty alleviation through the use of e-Government initiatives in the Ministry of Trade and Commerce • Awareness / advocacy sessions on office re-orientation using ICT based tools to facilitate knowledge sharing / collaboration to government and donor partners
Donor Initiatives • No clear information / compilation of data in the sector • ICT project ‘rides on’ others projects / programmes • DFiD exploring the sector to enter • World Bank group funded project on developing infrastructure in the telecommunications sector