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Empowerment through community e-centres

The government of Bangladesh has commitled to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have set challenging targets to humanity to improve the living conditions of excluded people around the world. One of these goals concerns Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The Target 8 of MDGs states: "In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies."

M. Nazrul Islam
COMMUNITY e-centres (CeC) arc the "Shared ICT Access Facilities," having computers, internet and other affiliated equipment, made available for community access free or at affordable prices, mostly in developing country rural environments. CeCs are popularly known as telecenters in Bangladesh. International and national organisations are investing in CeCs because they believe
communities benefit from having accurate information, and CeCs are an important way of getting information. They believe that information technologies are a key to providing timely and useful information on subjects ranging from market prices to health care. And because many in the community do not have individual access to these technologies, CeCs (much like telephone shops) provide shared access and a gateway to cyberspace.
The government of Bangladesh
has committed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which have set challenging targets to humanity to improve the living conditions of excluded people around the world. One of these goals con-cerns Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The Target 8 of MDGs states: "In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication technologies."
In order to use ICT as a means to reduce poverty, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) has suggested setting up CeCs in every upazilla in Bangladesh Many nationals and international organisations have come forward to assist the government's plan to take the benefits of ICTs to rural communities. •
The government and international development partners such as UNDP and ADB have already initiated a number of projects to promote setting up CeCs in rural areas. The non-state actors such as NGOs and educational institutions have come up with innovative ideas to establish
CeCs in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Telecentre Network (BTN), an umbrella association of civil society and private sector organisations, has announced "Mission 2011," with a vision to set up 40,000 CeCs in rural Bangladesh by 2011. The private cell phone operator Grameen Phone (GP) has initiated a noble project to set up Community Information Centers (CIC) with wireless technologies, which is bringing thousands of the rural population into the domain of ICT.
The government's e-Governance focal points are also becoming interested in CeC activities to bring government closer to the people, and to build people's trust in the government mechanism. In collaboration with ADB and Unescap, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MOSICT) has initiated a project called "Empowering Rural Areas through Community e Centers" under the South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program. The project will set up a number of CeCs in rural Bangladesh in 2008.
The MOSICT has recently signed another MOU with the ADB to implement a project called "Information Highway" under the SASEC program, and plans to set up 25 CeCs in rural Bangladesh by 2009. The CeCs set up under SASEC program will be connected through an alternative optical fiber network and a regional web portal, allowing
rural populations of all four SASEC countries (Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and India) to collaborate and share knowledge and information.
More than 1100 CeCs have been identified so far by the Bangladesh Telecenter Network (BTN). The existing CeCs are located at a variety of sites, such as Union Council premise (lowest unit of local government), educational institutions, growth centers, and community libraries. Some non- government organisations such as Relief International' and Schools Online set up internet enabled CeCs at resource poor schools and madrasas, allowing both students and community members to use ICT facilities available at these centers.
The CeCs in Bangladesh offer a range of information and technology services to improve rural livelihoods. Information available at these CeCs range from agricultural information to health care for the rural population. While the number of CeCs is growing in Bangladesh, they also meet several challenges. A baseline study recently conducted by the ADB in Bangladesh observes that existing challenges include lack of locally relevant contents, technical and infrastructure constraints (such as, lack of reliable and uninterrupted power supply, hardware and software trouble shooting, reliable connectivity), and financial sustainability problem. Poverty is
still a significant barrier, which restricts community in taking the benefits of CeCs. The cost of CeC services is still too high, especially for women, students and the unemployed.
With the liberalisation of the telecommunication sector, Bangladesh has experienced a rapid growth in the mobile sector, which in turn has connected almost every corner of the country. With wireless technologies such as GPRS/EDGE introduced by the mobile phone operators, rural CeCs are how able to get connected to the internet. Bangladesh entered a new era of high-speed data transfer capacity with the establishment of the submarine cable connection in 2007. This connection has significantly lowered internet and longdistance telephone call costs, and has contributed to boosting internet browsing and data transferspeed.
Despite some infrastructure challenges, it is likely that the number of CeCs in coming years will increase. However, in order to sustain the growth in the CeC sector, the government needs to come up with a solid plan to nourish these CeC initiatives, and provide supportive regulatory environment and telecommunication infrastructure.
The author is a Community e-centres Specialist for the project 'Empowering Rural Areas through Community e-centres', Asian Development Bank The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the organisation's views. He can be reached atnaislam@adb.org.