A Report on Union Information

& Service Centre in Boalkhali

Upazila, Chittagong







2013
BCS Administration Academy
Shahbagh, Dhaka


Bangladesh Civil Service Administration
Academy (BCSAA)



A Report on the Union Information & Service
Centre in Boalkhali Upazila, Chittagong


Submitted to:
Mosammat Hamida Begum
Director (Training) &
Course Director
84
th
& 85
th
Law & Administration Course
Bangladesh Civil Service Administration Academy
Dhaka.


Submitted by:
Achhiya Khatoon
ID No-16747
Roll No-16
84
th
Law & Administration Course
Bangladesh Civil Service Administration Academy
Dhaka.



Date of Submission: May 21, 2013

Acknowledgement

I gratefully acknowledge the all time care and guidance of Ms. Mosammat Hamida Begum,
honorable course Director under whose direction I have endeavoured to accomplish the
given assignment. I cannot but express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Md. Aknur Rahman,
respected Course Coordinator for his regular and patience supervision. I am very grateful to
Ms. Dilsad Begum Upazila Nirbahi Officer, Boalkhali for her kind help and guidelines in
facilitating my activities during the period of attachment there. I am also grateful to Mr. Nur
Ali Haider and Ms. Sanchita Barua, enterprenuers of Shakpura UISC for their kind
cooperation. I must admit my indebtedness to the respected Assistant Course Coordinators
for their kind supervision.


Achhiya Khatoon (16747)
Roll No. 16
84
th
Law and administration Course



A Report on the Union Information & Service
Centre in Boalkhali Upazila, Chittagong
1. 1 Introduction
Todays world is shaped by availability of Information and Communication Technology
(ICT). Because global economy is powered by technology, fueled by information and driven
by knowledge. This rapid change demands a dynamic renovation in Bangladesh also.
Government of Bangladesh is committed to foster the development activities through the
appropriate use of ICTs, and declared a vision of Digital Bangladesh by 2021 to ensure
services at peoples doorsteps. Vision 2021 of Digital Bangladesh will need help from both
Public and Private sector an infusion of resources, leadership and ICT centered development
if it is to be made meaningful. Over the last few decades, the world has been shifting from
industrial to knowledge-based societies; the ability of a nation to use and create knowledge
capital determines its capacity to empower and enable its citizens by increasing human
capabilities. Easy access to knowledge, creation and preservation of knowledge systems,
dissemination of knowledge and better knowledge services should be core concerns of the
Digital Bangladesh Vision 2021.
UISC stands for Union Information and Service Centre. Basically, it is an ICT enabled one-
stop service outlet located at Union Parishads of every Union which is the lowest tier of the
local government in Bangladesh. Similar to the telecentre concept by different private
organizations, the UISC model, however, is unique in the sense that it builds on the concept
of Public Private Partnership (PPP) instead of donation dependant models, and brings govt.
services within reach of every citizen in terms of proximity and cost To materialize the dream
of Digital Bangladesh and to ensure services at peoples doorsteps using modern technology,
Bangladesh with the help of the UNDP launched Union Information and Service Centres in
4,501 Unions across the country to disseminate information and deliver government services
to all citizens.
1.2 Background of UISC
All UISC were inaugurated simultaneously on 11th November, 2010 by Honble Prime
Minister of Bangladesh and UNDPs administrator & former Prime Minister of New Zealand
Ms Helen Clark in order to translate the dream of Digital Bangladesh into reality. UISCs are
the e-Service delivery outlets which initiated a new era in information and service delivery
for rural and marginalized people. With the aim to ensure services at citizens doorsteps,
UISCs are offering various government services, like public examination results, online
university admission, birth-death registration, agricultural & law consultancy, telemedicine,
life insurance; private services, like mobile banking, English learning, computer training,
email, internet browsing and so on. At present 40 lac citizens per month are receiving
services countrywide. 9002 young entrepreneurs are working with 4,501 UISCs and half of
them are women. Entrepreneurs are self-employed and they manage their life with their own
income. Increased entrepreneurial and self-employment activities help UISCs generate a
monthly average income of BDT 3 corer. These hubs of information and services at doorsteps
of local people save their time, energy and money.
UISC emerged from its earlier version known as CeC (Community e- Centre) is a Public
Service Delivery Chanel at union level. In 2007, two Community e-Centre (CeC) was
established as pilot under Democratic Government Thematic Trust Fund (DGTTF) of UNDP.
In early 2008, CeC has been included as a driver project of UNDP supported Access to
Information (a2i) Programme of Prime Ministers Office. In 2008, Local Government
Division (LGD) started 30 CeCs in Union Parishad. In line with that, LGD established UISCs
in all Union Parishads of Bangladesh step by step. UNDP supported Access to Information
(a2i) Programme of Prime Ministers Office plays a catalytic role in this regard. Each UISC
is operated by two local entrepreneurs one female and one male local youth - who have
invested in the centre, and is supervised by the associated Union Parishad which provides
space and utilities. Union Parishad, or the Local Govt. Division also borne some initial costs
including basic equipments such as a computer, a printer, internet modem and a webcam; the
entrepreneurs are free to install additional facilities keeping pace with business growth.
Entrepreneurs are self-employed, they are not the paid employees of Bangladesh
Government, and they manage their life with their own income. These employment
opportunities created by the UISCs have stimulated thousands more employments in the
country.
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) were recognized by the world leaders
as a key development enabler in World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in
2003 and in Tunis in 2005 (Tunis Commitment). In the Poverty Reduction Strategy of the
country called National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction 2009 (NSAPR-II), ICTs
were similarly identified and given due importance.

The governments Digital Bangladesh by 2021 vision plans to mainstreams ICTs as a pro-
poor tool to eradicate poverty, establish good governance, ensure social equity through
quality education, healthcare and law enforcement for all, and prepare the country for climate
change. Moreover, the government has laid the foundation for an enabling environment with
an actionable ICT Policy 2009, Right to Information Act 2009 and ICT Act 2009. Citizens of
the country irrespective of economic condition, education, race, ethnicity, profession, gender
are connected through network of mobile communications, broadband Internet, audio-visual
media for exchanging information and accessing services.

2. Union Information and Service Centers
Union Information and Services Centers (UISC) are newly established one-stop service
outlets operating at all 4,501 Union Parishads (UP, lowest tier of local government) of the
country. Through use of ICT, UISC is able to bring various types of information related to
government, livelihood and private services to the doorstep of citizens in rural areas. It
ensures services providers and users to save time, cost and has made operations hassle free.
Operating under the Public-Private- Peoples Partnership (PPPP) modality, these centers are
run by local entrepreneurs, hosted by UPs and supported by central administration. UISCs
have enabled citizens to easily and cost effectively access livelihood information and services
that affect their daily lives.

Objectives:
Overall objective: UISCs have been established with an aim to develop the UPs as reliable,
dependable resourceful centres having connectivity among global, national and local
network.
Specific Objectives:
To ensure easy access of common people to government and commercial and social
information and services
To create ICT infrastructure at all union parishads and to increase efficiency of union
parishads through prompt delivery of information and other day to day services.
To provide a supportive environment for creation of local entrepreneurs.
To ensure free flow of information for empowering rural community.
To create a vibrant, knowledge-based union parishad.

2.1 Support and Services provided by UISCs
UISC is a local knowledge centre. These hubs of information and services at doorsteps of
local people save their time, energy and money. Now it has the challenge for the citizens to
carry out the benefits of UISCs and make these sustainable. As a result, UISC will be a centre
of service excellence which will meet hassle free citizen demand by reducing digital divide
between centre and periphery.
UISCs commonly offered three types of services; government services, information services
and commercial services. Government Services, like Online Birth Registration, different
types of government forms, government circulars and notices, online university admission,
examination results, population census data entry, citizenship certificate, citizen charter of
Union Parishad. Information Services, like Agriculture, health, education, law & human
Rights, tourism, environment & disaster management, science & technology, industry &
commerce and employment. All these livelihood information are provided by National e-
Tathyakosh (National e-Content Repository). Commercial services, like m-Banking, life
insurance, English learning, computer training, internet browsing, email, printing, scanning,
compose, photocopy, laminating, data entry, photography, phone call, flexi-load, mobile
ringtone download, video show, video conference, projector rent, passport & visa processing,
height & weight measurement, blood pressure measurement, soil test, arsenic test etc. to
generate income for the entrepreneurs as well as to provide the service at the doorsteps.
Partners of UISC:
In order for UISCs to survive successfully in the long run, support from various govt. and
private organizations is being mobilized through partnerships, these entities not only offer
people oriented services through these centres, some of them also provides hardware
maintenance and other technical support to keep these centres operational. In the forefront of
such partnerships are public and private banks (e.g. Dutch Bangla, Mercantile Bank)
powered by the upcoming online banking facilities, Life Insurance agency (e.g. Jibonbima),
telecommunications (e.g. Robi, Banglalink), non-govt. organizations (Dhaka Ahsania
Mission, Practical Action) and govt. agencies and projects (e.g. Cabinet Division, Bangladesh
Computer Council). A range of useful services (e.g. British Councils English learning) is
available at the union level, and govt. agencies are benefitting by using the UISC
infrastructure and resources for data collection, registration for various schemes, transparent
beneficiary identification and disbursement of Social Safety Nets allowances, so on and so
forth.
Telecom Industry: Banglalink, Robi.
Financial Institutions: Dutch Bangla Bank, Mercantile Bank, Trust Bank Limited, One Bank
Limited, Bikash Ltd (BRAC Bank).
Education institutions: British Council, Ankur ICT Development Foundation.
Solar energy: IDCOL (Infrastructure Development Company Limited), Climate Change Unit
(Ministry of Environment and Forest).
Insurance companies: Jiban Bima Corporation.
NGOs: Practical Action Bangladesh, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Swanirvor Bangladesh.
Technical trouble shooting: Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), Bangladesh Computer
Samity (BCS)
Cyber Cafe Owners Association of Bangladesh (CCOAB).


Figure: Screen shot of UISC Blog
3. Boalkhali Upazila
As a part of our field attachment, I went to Boalkhali Upazil in Chittagong district under the
direction of the Course management of 84
th
Law and Administration Course for a 3 days
(from 15 April, 2013 to 17 April, 2013) attachment. During this period of attachment, in
consultation with the Upazila Nirbahi Officer, Boalkhalli Ms. Dilsad Begum, I have visited a
UISC of Shakpura and collected the available information regarding different aspects of the
UISC from two entrepreneurs- Nur Ali Haider and Sanchita Barua, as well as some
beneficiaries. On the basis of my observation and findings as well as the information and data
collected during my attachment following the guidelines given by the Course Management, I
have prepared the following report.

4. Shakpura UISC
Shakhpur UISC has been in operation for last three years and running successfully. The
impact on the community of this UISC is mentionable. For the better service to the people
following accessories and technological tools are provided in this centre:
Desktop Computer -01
Laptop -01
Printer (Laser) -01
Printer ( Color) -01
Scanner -01
Web camera -01
Internet Modem -01
Digital Camera -01
Photocopier machine -01
Multimedia projector -01
Laminating machine -01
Chairs - 08
Table -01

Services delivered though this UISC are:
Popular Government Services:
Public examination results
Online university admission
Government forms
Birth and death registration
Citizenship certificate
VGD/VGF list
Government circulars and notices
Agriculture and health consultancy
Govt. life insurance
Services of DC office (35+)
-Development (VGD, VGF, TR, minority welfare, Kabikha, sports & cultural activities,
development of educational institutions)
Revenue (Porcha, khas land distribution, Ashrayon, Non-agricultural land purchase, land
acquisition money, requisition, certificate suit, hat & bazaar, vested property, exchange
property, stamp vendor license, land survey)
-License (C.I Sheet, Cement, Poison, Food grain)
-Complain & remedy (pension, land, family affairs, law & orders)
-Relief & rehabilitation (Donation, grant, GR)
-Certification (marriage, NGO)
-Miscellaneous (Different committee approval, different appointments, dramatical
performance, expatriate welfare, examination matters)
Popular private services:
Email
Internet browsing
Computer training
English learning of British Council
m-Banking (Dutch Bangla Bank, Mercantile Bank, Trust Bank, One Bank, bKash limited)
Photography
Job information
Passport processing
Visa application and tracking
Service camp
Video conference
Print
Scan
Lamination
Compose
Photocopy
Mobile service
Soil test
Arsenic test
Height & weight measurement
Deed writings

In last month, the service provided through this UISC are printing, providing information
regarding jobs, exam results, e-mail, compose, photocopy, photography, video conferencing,
internet browsing, downloading government forms etc. I collected previous one months
report on the service delivery and respective income information through this UISC. The
average income was taka 1100/day which is noteworthy.
Current Scenario:
Key Findings:
Crucial livelihood information i.e. agriculture, health, law, etc. is easily available on
time near doorsteps of all citizens.
Many new potential government and non-government services being added.
Entrepreneurs started to have their own life.
Entrepreneurs are earning BDT 3 corer per months on average and 45 lac people are
taking services in every month.
Capacity of Union Parishad in prompt service delivery enhanced and closer ties
established among the LG employees, peoples representatives and citizens
Government officials bureaucratic hegemony reduced. Now a friendly relationship
has been developed among the UISC entrepreneurs and officers local administration
(e.g. DC, ADC, UNO) through the activities of UISC
Government information and services e.g. form collection-submission, tax payment,
land record copy collection and so on available near doorsteps of all citizens
Convenient Access to a wide range of commercial services from online banking, life
insurance to English language learning ensured.
Online interaction platform uiscbd.ning.com (UISC blog) created
A host of local entrepreneurs, half of which is women, created.
5. The effectiveness of UISCs in delivering services
The following effective impacts have been noticed by this UISC during my visit:
There is an ensured employment generation of the entrepreneurs of UISC
A social mobilization through the ICT has taken place.
Peoples right to know has been ensured
Access to information has been implemented
Services of the government have been taken to be widely circulated
Awareness building of the marginalized society has taken place
Connectivity of the citizen has been ensured
Services have been taken to the doorstep of the citizens
6. Possible outcomes of the project
Remote knowledge hub: The project can be the hub of local knowledge base. In
building a knowledge based society, UISCs can bear the flag and thus the vision 2021
can be implemented.
Social mobilization: Effective social mobilization can function though this project.
Time, energy and money: These hubs of information and services at doorsteps of
local people save their time, energy and money. Now it has the challenge for the
citizens to carry out the benefits of UISCs and make these sustainable. As a result,
UISC will be a centre of service excellence which will meet hassle free citizen
demand by reducing digital divide between core and periphery.
Outsourcing: Outsourcing can be great tools for earning foreign currency by working
for global companies. We have educated population to employ. Trained young
professional s in this regard can play vital role.
Eradicating poverty: It is a novel idea that the idea of using ICT is itself is a tool for
eradicating poverty. The UISCs have the full potentials to be used as the strong
machinery in poverty reduction, promoting democracy by building awareness in the
peripheral society.
7. The constraints
The constraints for further advancement of the UISCs are:
The improper and interrupted power supply
Low speed internet
Less collaboration from the UP chairmen and UP secretary
Sense of insecurity of the entrepreneurs
Limited scope of access of the people from remote area
Browsing charge is higher (20 Tk. per hour).
Lack of training
Lack of awareness and promotion
Lack of education and ICT knowledge
Problem of understanding English language
Round the clock monitoring of UISCs from the government to the entrepreneurs
Its true that no new invention can run only through smooth way; with each new innovation
some new challenges come as well. At present the UISCs are facing the following challenges:
-Electricity problem
-Internet speed is very slow in rural level
-Coordination gap among the Union Parishad Chairman, Union Parishad Chairman and UISC
entrepreneurs.
-Few officers of local administration are not pro-active as well.
-Entrepreneurs dropout rate is high.
-All entrepreneurs technical skills as well as accounting skills are not enough.
-Campaign, mobilization and marketing strategy are not enough.

Steps to Overcome Challenges:
Digital Bangladesh is the countrys ultimate dream, and its very indispensable for
countrys national development as well. UISC is an important step to translate this dream into
reality. So, various measures have been taken to meet the current challenges, such as-
o Solar panel has been set up in 1013 UISCs where there was no electricity at all; solar panel
is also going to set up in heavy load shading UISCs soon
Discussion is going on with different telecommunication companies for improving the speed
of interaction connections at UISCs.
o Various workshops are going on in district and sub-district (upazila) level with the presence
of union parishad chairmen, union parishad secretaries, entrepreneurs and the officers of local
administration to reduce the gaps among them.
o Strong monitoring and follow-up mechanism for local administration is going to establish
from Cabinet Division, Local Government Division (LGD) as well a2i, Prime Ministers
Office in order to make the UISC sustainable.
o Entrepreneurs training from local district administration has been started whenever and
wherever needed.
o Advance course on technical issue, accounting, mobilization, communication and
marketing strategy will be addressed soon for UISC entrepreneurs.

8. Suggestions to improve the services of UISCs
The service hours should be increased so that more people can have more service.
There should be a linkage between union land office so that more photo copying
could be done.
The overall infrastructure of the broadband connectivity should be well organized
with much more bandwidth so that the monopoly of the telecom companies for the
internet service will be reduced.
Continuous electricity supply should be ensured through generator, solar panel may
be the alternative solution. At the same time electricity back up should be provided in
the UISC.
Awareness and promotion regarding ICT and the UISC should be increased through
mass media with a view to make UISC the main media of government services at
local level.
The entrepreneurs should be provided with long term training and permanent
incentives.
Cooperation and cordial support from the Union Parishad Chairman in this regard
should be needed.
Proper maintenance and monitoring by Upazila administration should be continued.

9. Overall evaluation of UISCs
The UISCs have been in operation for last three years. Already it has left a permanent
hallmark of success in the service delivery to the citizens who had almost zero level
experience in such style of service delivery. The technology transfer to the common mass is
really working wonder in remotest part of the society where traditional system of service
delivery could not succeed. The UISCs can be the true icon of ICT backed e-governance
through the capacious implementation of information and service delivery system in the
country.

10. Conclusion
The Government of Bangladesh declared Vision 2021 in which the matter of Digital
Bangladesh seems to be the most momentous phenomenon. The inauguration of Union
Information and Service Centre across the country in the union level has opened up the
horizons of opportunities and possibilities of economic growth in the very grass root level of
our society. It was projected that the Union Parishad based information centers, equipped
with computers and wireless Internet, would offer various online and offline services to
people at nominal charge. Yes, the idea proves to be right since the UISCs are working on to
materialize the dream of Digital Bangladesh by serving the rural people using the technology
in many different ways. Needless to say that the advancements of technology hence the
internet backed information and communication technology has appeared to be the lamp of
Aladdin of the Arabian Nights which have the potentiality to ease out the people from cycle
of ignorance and help them making empowered.
UISC is a local knowledge centre. These hubs of information and services at doorsteps of
local people save their time, energy and money. Now it has the challenge for the citizens to
carry out the benefits of UISCs and make these sustainable. As a result, UISC will be a centre
of service excellence which will meet hassle free citizen demand by reducing digital divide
between core and periphery