Total expenditure:
$3,876,441 (as of end-2011)
Year
Budget
Expenditure
2007:
$404,000
$370,885
2008:
$428,201
$393,138
2009:
$1,442,700
$1,063,545
2010:
$2,071,655
$1,372,755
2011:
$1,311,890
$676,118
Start date:
December 2006
End date:
Ongoing
Outputs & outcomes Projects: • Sixty ‘quick win’ projects were initiated in 2010 to support service-delivery innovation; fairs were hosted nationally and locally and awards were given to recognize and encourage innovation in public and private sector service delivery. • The Union Information and Service Centres (UISCs) were scaled-up from 32 to 4,501 in all Union Parishads (municipalities). • In 2010, 200,000 sugarcane farmers benefitted from e-Purjee – a system that relies on SMS (text messaging) to alert farmers when to bring their cane to market; over two million utility bills were paid through mobile phones; an online general diary system was extended to all police stations; 30,000 taxpayers assessed their taxes using an online tax calculator; vulnerable groups in Sirajgonj and Cox’s Bazaar were alerted to disasters via SMS; over 130,000 students applied for admission to Shahjalal and Jagannath universities using SMS, and 22 universities will adopt similar systems by mid-2011. • A One-Stop Service Centre was established in one deputy commissioner’s office and eight upazilas. Training, workshops & information sessions: • Four government ICT-orientation sessions were held for 17 secretaries, 35 joint secretaries, 15 deputy commissioners, and 60 Upazila Nirbahi officers from each of the seven divisions; sensitization and capacity development workshops were also conducted – from high-level ministers to Union Parishad representatives (including 64 deputy commissioners, 64 additional deputy commissioner generals, 483 Upazila Nirbahi officers, 481 upazila chairmen and 1,100 Union Parishad representatives). • Seven interactive dialogues were organized for the media in collaboration with the Press Institute of Bangladesh. Institutional partnership with the official news agency of Bangladesh was developed to promote e-services. Three docu-dramas were produced to raise awareness of the benefits of e-initiatives. • Two hundred-fifty government officers were trained on Bangla Unicode standards for document interoperability. Policy development: • Digital Bangladesh’s strategic priorities were identified through 14 national consultations with public and private stakeholders chaired by relevant secretaries, in partnership with the General Economics Division of the Bangladesh Planning Commission and with online consultations with ICTD experts and practitioners around the world. • A ‘Strategic Priorities of Digital Bangladesh’ document was mainstreamed into the national development plan. • National e-governance architecture was developed. • Security policy and guidelines were drafted. • Comprehensive government web portals are under development. • A detailed design, process and budget for the National Population Register is under development.
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