By FN for APCNews GOA, India,
Published onPage last updated on
APC member in South Asia, BytesForAll, has launched its ‘ICT4D Status Report 1.0’, a document looking into the use of information and communication technology for the purpose of development. It has put it up on its wiki, and seeks feedback here: http://bangladeshictpolicy.bytesforall.net/?q=national_report
The report aims to monitor ICT development in different sectors and to compile civil society views and understanding of policy intervention in those areas.
"We consulted different relevant organisations to identify the issues of importance, to have a status check and to map the challenges and opportunities in those areas," said the network.
Areas covered are localisation/open content development, updates on the telecentre movement, access and infrastructure issues, community radio development and e-governance in the context of Bangladesh.
This study is intended to focus on areas that are relevant to the ‘ICT for development’ community, in which a large number of civil society organisations are involved.
BytesForAll Bangladesh’s Monjur Mahmud told APCNews: "The successful usage of ICT for the purposes of social development in Bangladesh is not that old. The past few years have been very eventful in the means and the context of using ICT for development (ICT4D), which has now turned into an independent domain of interest to different stakeholders. Therefore, a study on the present status of different areas in ICT4D (in Bangladesh) was very important…"
BytesForAll Bangladesh teamed up with a number of local organisations and individuals in preparing a status report on these areas and uploading that document as a Wiki to seek feedback from its readers.
Announcing the release, BytesForAll’s Monjur Mahmud said: "We named the existing version as 1.0, which we will upgrade to higher versions as we get feedback. This is a collaborative and living document where different chapters are written by different lead organisations or individuals who are actively involved in those areas."
Some involved with the report include Ananya Raihan and Suporna Roy of D-net [http://www.dnet-bangladesh.org/], Hakikur Rahman of SDNP Bangladesh [http://www.sdnbd.org], Munir Hasan and Ragib Hasan of the Bangladesh Open Source Network- BDOSN [http://www.bdosn.org/] and the Bangla WikiPedia [http://bn.wikipedia.org], AHM Bazlur Rahman and Golam Nabi Jewel of BNNRC [http://www.bnnrc.net] and K.A.M Morshed of UNDP Bangladesh [http://www.un-bd.org/undp/ictd/index.html]
Founded in 1999, BytesForAll describes itself as a "networked space for citizens in South Asia". By sharing information on a volunteer-driven basis, it builds awareness about ICT for development projects going on in various parts of South Asia, or relevant to the region. It became an APC member in 2005.
Links to BytesForAll Bangladesh
http://bangladeshictpolicy.bytesforall.net
http://www.bytesforall.net
