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Pleased to read the email. I hope this Digital Public Innovation Fair
2010 will be a milestone in accomplishing the visions set for the
´Digital Bangladesh´. The government may take this opportunity to discuss
them elaborately through the conferences by making partnership with
entrepreneurs, research institutes, civil societies and development
partners. I am certain, there are opportunities to collaborate among them
in reaching out the benefit of the Digital Bangladesh to the grass roots
communities in the country.<br><br>
Not without making it a very long email, I would like to draw a little
attention on reaching out to the grass roots communities through the
local government initiatives:<br><br>
Governments throughout the world are in quest of finding novel ways to
deliver public services more efficiently and effectively to reach the
people at large. Incorporation of electronic form of governance
(e-governance) in the local governments tier is an option widely
discussed, although the expectations often vary. They vary in nature,
culture, practice, habits and habitations among communities, regions,
states and nations. For example, some foresee service delivery costs to
be reduced, many expect for equitable stipulation of public services and
others anticipate better planning across a geographical boundary. Various
social motivations and political commitments motivations may also be
reasons for the change as well.<b> <br>
<br>
</b>Moreover, due to non availability of any accepted e-governance
framework, some countries and agencies of implementation are yet at the
stage of simulation or at stages of experimentation or at state of
confusion, even after years of successful operation of e-government
system in many countries. Countries in the developing and transitional
economies are major victims of this situation, as most of the time they
just try to replicate an established system in a country or try to simply
manipulate on their own without enough researches in this aspect or try
to popularize a vision without looking into the intricacy within it. The
consequences are that, not only governments, but also, development actors
are revisiting the concept of e-government system as many projects on
e-governance have failed throughout the globe. Some of the international
agencies have even shifted their focus area of funding. Perhaps, these
could be due to factors related to design, perception, culture,
economics, transparency or simple failure due to lack of proper
attention. <br><br>
National e-government concepts and strategies should lead to develop a
concrete e-governance framework in a country incorporating; development
of institutional infrastructure, establishment of adequate information
infrastructure, formation of liberal legal and regulatory infrastructure,
and creation of business value out of these services. <br><br>
In this context, to achieve maximum capabilities of ICT tools in
e-government practice at the grass roots, it is necessary to adjust the
organizational structure and usage leading to: actual legal and
socioeconomic context in which strategic development planning process is
to be performed; pragmatic demands that managing of local development has
to be fulfilled; include all participants in local management process;
and strengthen institutional capacities and procedures. However, it
has been observed that only small percentage of the local governments
could meet the criteria for effective e-government management including:
leadership, strategic planning, performance measurement and market
promotion. In order to be successful, local e-government objectives
require strong leadership that champions e-government and works to
increase acceptance among stakeholders. In addition to having a local
strategy, individual organizations should also include local e-government
approach in their strategic plans to ensure each employee is continuously
looking for ways to improve processes and service delivery. Regular
performance measures are also essential for evaluating whether the
particular e-government system ( or segment of the system) is cost
efficient, properly serving customers, and being used
effectively.<br><br>
As mentioned below (in the announcement), several service delivery
(Passport, SSC and HSC results, automation of recruitment process, and
others) that have already created enthusiasm and offering benefits are of
worth mentioning. The government need to utilize this momentum to include
some more pragmatic service deliveries, such as e-procurement,
e-transactions, and e-application processing in various government
agencies who offer citizen services.<br><br>
Aiming at a fully functioning information system, the following basic
technical preconditions should also be met: establishment of a local
network connecting all the computers in the local administration, or at
least one computer in each organization or office should be in the
network; configuring a central server to host the content, information
and supporting software locally; and affordable Internet connection
according to the needs of the local government network and its financial
capacity. Large municipalities might use a dedicated line (broadband,
fiber, ISDN or other available high speed connectivity), providing
twenty-four hour connection with the Internet. Smaller local governments
may afford to a more limited connection at an affordable price. Central
government may subsidize the entire operation for a while till the local
e-government system becomes self sustainable. If the system is built
around the core aspects of the livelihood system, incorporating the
people at large has every possibility of sustenance in the long run.<br>
<br>
However, to implement a pragmatic information system at the local
government level, the following information infrastructure could be
thought as a pre-requisite: at least one computer in each department or
office (simple PIII or PIV or even clones); one high-end computer (may be
a Pentium V) functioning as server; personnel with minimum working
knowledge on computer basics and Internet; an user-friendly operating
system (perhaps, open source) and a operational manual; at least a team
of experts (preferably local, of not periodical central) to conduct the
basic systemic analysis, install the model, and train the officials
(train the trainers, instead of training the entire community).<br><br>
Better implementation of local e-government or local e-governance means
utilizing the power of ICT to assist in transforming the accessibility,
quality and cost-effectiveness of public service and to help revitalize
the relationship among customers and citizens and the public bodies who
work for their benefits. Planned e-governance and appropriate use of ICT
at the local level can enhance and support economic and social
development, particularly in empowering officials and municipal
representatives by ensuring linkages and networking through timely,
efficient, transparent, responsive, and accountable services. <br><br>
I hope some of you will find it interesting.<br><br>
Thanking you,<br>
Hakik<br>
PS. Anyone interested may write me off-line.<br><br>
<br>
Prof. Hakikur Rahman<br>
Post-Doctoral researcher<br>
University of Minho, Portugal and<br>
Adjunct Faculty<br>
BSMRAU, Bangladesh.<br>
Web: <a href="http://www.hakik.org/" eudora="autourl">www.hakik.org</a>
<br><br>
At 11:27 14-02-2010, AHM Bazlur Rahman wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">[Please note that by using
'REPLY', your response goes to the entire list. Kindly use individual
addresses for responses intended for specific people]<br><br>
Click
<a href="http://wsis.funredes.org/plenary/" eudora="autourl">
http://wsis.funredes.org/plenary/</a> to access automatic translation of
this message!<br>
_______________________________________<br><br>
<br><br>
<font size=6 color="#0000FF"><b>DIGITAL PUBLIC INNOVATION FAIR-2010<br>
</b></font><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>4-6 March 2010<br>
</font><br>
<div align="center"> <br>
</div>
<br>
<img src="cid:.0" width=300 height=223 alt="[]">In order to make the
government policy, administration and service delivery more efficient,
effective, transparent and accountable ,Information and communication
technologies have proven to play an increasingly prominent role not only
in developed parts of the world but also in developing countries. ICTs
such as mobile phones, TV, radio in addition to computers and internet
have been able to reach traditionally excluded communities, and allow a
much larger participation in national decision making than had hitherto
been possible. The Fair will take place during 4-6 March
2010<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><br><br>
The vision Of “<b>Digital Bangladesh</b>” is unique as it proposes ICTs
as a pro-poor tool. In regard to this vision, Access to Information
Programme is an e-governance umbrella initiative which plans and
coordinates the ongoing and future activities across various ministries
and agencies of the government to utilize ICTs as a tool to make
government services hassle-free,faster,cheaper, more inclusive and at
citizens doorsteps.<br><br>
The ‘<b>DIGITAL PUBLIC INNOVATION FAIR-2010</b>’ is a step towards
providing extensive citizen services to citizen . Through this fair
citizens will be aware of the extensive e-services at their doorsteps.
Also, citizens will be benefited in terms of reduced transaction
time.<br><br>
Some examples from Bangladesh demonstrate the vast potential:
<ul>
<li>Publishing SSC/HSC results through SMS, electricity bill payment
through mobile phone, one-stop passport delivery, downloadable government
forms have reduced cost and time for the government and citizens
<li>Automation of primary teacher recruitment process has increased
transparency; automation has enabled the Ministry of Religious Affairs to
handle over 50,000 hajjis with ease where it had great difficulty in
handling 5,000 hajjis earlier.
<li>The Voter/Citizen’s ID card is generating a comprehensive database of
citizens that can be used for birth and death registration, marriage
registration, school enrolment, vaccination, social safety net
programmes, and many others
</ul><br>
In its work for the last year or so, the Access to Information Programme
of the Prime Minister’s Office has found that sharing success stories of
service delivery innovations that are taking place in different organs of
the government encourages the innovators and spurs further innovation in
others. With this view in mind, an Digital Public Innovation Fair 2010 is
being designed to showcase the best practices in public service delivery
in a 3-day event open to government officials from around the
country.<br><br>
The objectives of the event are:
<ul>
<li>To encourage and promote the current best practices in public service
delivery
<li>To share and replicate these best practices across government
organizations
<li>To set a tone of healthy competition amongst the GoB ministries and
agencies
</ul><br>
Government participants will benefit from learning about best practices
in this respective field of service delivery and administration. Industry
participants will benefit from showcasing their most innovation
solutions. For more info:
<a href="http://www.digitalinnovationfair.info/">
http://www.digitalinnovationfair.info/</a><br><br>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<font size=4>Bazlu<br>
_______________________<br>
AHM. Bazlur Rahman-S21BR<br>
Chief Executive Officer<br>
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication(BNNRC)<br>
&<br>
Member, Strategy Council<br>
UN-Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN GAID)<br>
<br>
House: 13/1, Road:2, Shaymoli, Dhaka-1207 <br>
Post Box: 5095, Dhaka 1205 Bangladesh<br>
<br>
Phone: 88-02-9130750, 88-02-9138501<br>
01711881647 Fax: 88-02-9138501-105<br>
<br>
E-mail: <a href="mailto:ceo@bnnrc.net">ceo@bnnrc.net</a>,
<a href="mailto:bnnrc@bd.drik.net">bnnrc@bd.drik.net</a></font><br>
<font size=4><a href="http://www.bnnrc.net">www.bnnrc.net</a></font><br>
<br>
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