ICT Policy in Developing Countries workshop,

Centre for Development Informatics, University of Manchester, UK

Bangladesh National ICT Policy 2009:
Key features and challenges

Md. Masum Billah and Dr. Ananya Raihan
D.Net (Development Research Network), Bangladesh

Policies Related to Science and Technology
In 1997 the government of Bangladesh officially recognised that Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) can make an important development
impact

In 2002, the Ministry of Science and Technology was renamed as the
Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology
(MOICT)

The existing science and technology policy of the country was adopted 24
years ago, in 1986.

The vision of the policy was to meet the basic needs of human beings by
harnessing the potential of science and technology.

ICT Policy of Bangladesh
The first ICT Policy of Bangladesh was formulated in 2002

The ICT Policy has been revised in 2008

The revised ICT Policy has been adopted by the government in April 2009

Vision of ICT Policy 2009
Expand and diversify the use of ICTs to establish a transparent, responsive
and accountable government
Develop skilled human resources
Enhance social equity
Ensure cost-effective delivery of citizen-services through public-private
partnerships
Support the national goal of becoming a middle-income country within ten
years and join the ranks of the developed countries of the world within thirty
years.
Key feature of ICT policy 2009
The ICT Policy 2009 appropriately identified the objectives of ICT
in development
The Objectives of the policy are
(1) Social equity
(2) Productivity
(3) Integrity
(4) Education and research
(5) Employment
(6) Strengthening exports
(7) Healthcare
(8) Universal access
(9) Environment, climate and disaster management
(10) Support to ICTs.

Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Social equity
Mainstream social advancement opportunities for disadvantaged groups
as an immediate priority to minimize economic disparity and bridge the
digital divide for (a) lower income groups, (b) ethnic minorities, (c) women,
and (d) persons with disabilities and special needs

Facilitate citizens participation in local and national government, and
policy making as a broad national agenda

Provide incentives to the private sector and NGO/CSO/CBOs to generate
and share locally relevant and local language digital content and online
services

Develop and preserve content to bolster culture, heritage and religion

Bring into focus children's issues, including protection of children from
harmful digital content
Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Productivity
Encourage maximum utilisation of ICT services nationwide to boost
productivity of small, medium and micro enterprises and agriculture sector, and
focus on innovation and competitiveness

Ensure dissemination and utilisation of latest know-how and market information
to increase production capability and supply chain management of agriculture
through ICT applications

Ensure better monitoring, skills gap determination, appropriate training and
modern enterprise operations to enhance productivity of large enterprises by
encouraging immediate implementation of end to end applications (ERP)

Ensure sustainable productivity in the service sector through increased
automation of operations and management information systems

Encourage e-commerce, e-payments, and e-transactions in general bringing in
a new dimension of productivity to the economy at the earliest
Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Integrity
Ensure the use of Bangla in all ICT activities

Reduce harassment, time and cost to the public and ensure transparency and
accountability in government service delivery by monitoring citizens' charter
and making service delivery results public

Establish interconnectivity across government offices for effective data sharing

Build capacity of public functionaries and foster leadership for electronic
service delivery

Mandate availability of all public information through electronic means and
ensure sustainability of ICT-based citizens services delivery

Introduce ICT-based monitoring of planning, implementation and effectiveness
of development projects
Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Education and Research
Assess skills of ICT professionals and meet gaps with targeted trainings.

Encourage closer collaboration between academia and industry.

Extend the reach of ICT literacy throughout the country by incorporating ICT
courses in secondary education and technical and vocational education.

Enhance the quality and reach of education at all levels with a special focus
on Mathematics, Science and English

Ensure ICT Literacy for all in public service

Boost use of ICT tools in all levels of education.

Ensure that all universities provide global standard ICT education.
Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Employment Generation
Provide incentives for investment in local ICT industry

Build institutional capacity for producing greater number of IT
professionals in line with domestic and global demands for knowledge
workers

Standardize skills for local ICT industry

Facilitate global employment of skilled ICT workforce

Provide financial assistance to ICT professionals for skills development
Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Strengthening Exports
Develop strong marketing, promotion and branding for Bangladeshi ICT
products and services in global markets

Ensure access to finance for promising software and ITES companies

Develop and maintain reliable ICT infrastructure

Provide incentives to increase export and create industry friendly policy
and enabling environment

Foster innovation through research and development to improve quality,
process, technology, domain, value chain and niche markets
Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Healthcare
Improve management of healthcare delivery system

Improve community awareness and access to health care facilities for all
including difficult to access areas, with a special emphasis on child and
maternal health

Ensure Quality Assurance of health care services

Enhance capacity of National Health Service Delivery System
Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Universal Access
Extend universal connectivity to all citizens as a public service obligation
within 5 years

Extend internet backbone infrastructure to all district headquarters
immediately at the same access cost as in the capital

Extend Internet and IP telephony services to all parts of the country within 5
years through providing incentives as stipulated in the national telecom policy

Make IP-based telecommunications ubiquitous and affordable by all through
aggressive adoption of NGN and license-free regime
Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Environment, Climate and
Disaster Management
Promote environmental preservation by adopting environment-friendly
green technologies

Promote environmental protection through the use of ICT tools

Protect citizens from natural disasters through ICT-based disaster warning
and management technologies

Ensure safe disposal of toxic wastes resulting from use of ICTs

Promote efficient relief management and post disaster activities monitoring
Key feature of ICT policy 2009: Supports to ICTs
Ensure reliable and cost-effective power

Create supportive legal framework for IPR protection, online document sharing,
transactions and payments

Establish a Government Interoperability Framework to be adhered to by all
government ICT projects

Promote the use of cost-effective, open source and open architecture solutions

Build ICT infrastructure facilities in educational institutions

Decentralize ICT growth outside the capital

Improve education quality in IT, Mathematics and English

Improve Internet availability and reliability
Institutional Arrangements
Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology

Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC)

Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MoPT)

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC)

Support to ICT Task Force (SICT) Programme

Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS)

Challenges
Ensuring power supply
Building inclusive information and knowledge system
Intellectual Property Rights
Absence of Universal access policy
Building E-learning Infrastructure
Digital Government
Access to Government Information
Online transaction and payment infrastructure
Promotion of e-business and e-commerce
Automation of financial industry
Digital Bangladesh and ICT Policy 2009
ICT Policy 2009 has specific direction and
guidelines reflecting most of the priorities of the
Digital Bangladesh agenda of current government
of Bangladesh.
THANK YOU