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ShareMission 2011 - Bangladesh Telecentre Network (BTN) 40 years of Independence, 40, 000 telecentres: Solution to poverty reduction!
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Created By: vignesh on 31-Jan-2008 3:01 AM
Life has been changing so fast since the time I was born. Advances in science and technology have been the major source of change in recent decades and this change has led to progress. Looking back on our past history, we learn that technology has always had resulted in the improvement ofpeople's life.
- while reading this, I had a nap. It was 06th December 2007, pre-dawn time, Shaddy (Basheerhamad Shadrach, Sr. Programme Ofiicer, telecentre.org) and I reached ZIA International Airport, Dhaka to attend the launch of Mission 2011 by Bangladesh Telecentre Network (BTN).
I experienced my most joyful and knowledgeable two days with Shaddy. My bigger lessons were drawn from talking to him and watching him, and his attitude towards listening and knowledge sharing. Shaddy shared his extensive involvement and telecentre.org's support from the conceptual stage of BTN to the launch of Mission 2011. Here I must mention about the BRAC Centre Inn, where we had stayed. BRAC Centre Inn is a part of BRAC, the largest non-governmental organisation in the world and employs around 100, 000 people. I was happy to know that BRAC is one of the BTN Partners. Shaddy pointed out a corner table at the BRAC Centre Inn's restaurant, from where Ananya Raihan, he and other telecentre activists had sat together to conceptualise the Mission 2011, almost a year earlier.
After a quick breakfast, along with Arun (Subbiah Arunachalam of MSSRF) and other delegates from Bhutan, we moved towards the venue for the launch. Vehicles were moving at snail's pace due to heavy traffic jam in the city. We were told that it is not unusual for them. Arun, is full of optimism and has been involved with various development projects in Bangladesh. He shared his observations about various development issues in Bangladesh.
We reached the Bangladesh China Friendship Convention Centre (BCFCC), the venue for the event. Amidst tight security, the Chief guest - Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Advisor to the caretaker government of Bangladesh reached the venue. The event started with a welcome address of Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, Chairperson, BTN. Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, Vice Chancellor of BRAC University presented the keynote paper. In his paper, he told that telecentres could play a key role in disaster preparedness as well as in managing post-disaster relief and rehabilitation. He gave an example of recent experience of Cyclone Sidr, which devastated the South-Western part of Bangladesh. He also mentioned that telecentres might contribute significantly in raising public awareness about disaster mitigation and other important areas.
Following a brief multimedia presentation on telecentre practices in Bangladesh, Basheerhamad Shadrach of telecentre.org shared the vision of telecentre.org and how India's Mission 2007 inspired Bangladesh Telecentre Network (BTN) to launch Mission 2011. He pointed out four key challenges facing the movement in Bangladesh namely, (i) connectivity, (ii) local content development, (iii) services, and (iv) capacity of the infomediary. Prof Subbiah Arunachalam, Executive Committee member of Global Knowledge Partnership and fellow of M S Sawminathan Research Foundation, India, Renata L Desallien, UNDP Resident Representative, Major General. Manjurul Alam (Retired), Chairman of BTRC and Tapan Chowdhury, Science and ICT Advisor also spoke at the function.
At around 11.00 AM, Honourable Chief Advisor to the caretaker government of Bangladesh announced the launch of Mission 2011 of Bangladesh Telecentre Network, which targeted to set up 40,000 telecentres by 2011, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the glorious independence of Bangladesh. The vision of Mission 2011 is to make an inclusive knowledge society in Bangladesh, where the poor and the marginalised people get access to information and knowledge for improving their livelihood through the use of modern information and communication technologies.
In his speech, the honourable chief advisor called for empowering poor, disadvantaged and rural population through providing them with access to the information superhighway for building a prosperous Bangladesh. He urged all to help make the Mission 2011 a success, which can usher in a new era in the country's march towards progress. Addressing the function, he hoped that Mission 2011 would play a significant role in unleashing the immense power of ICT for the country's national development and help achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the medium term and a poverty-free Bangladesh in the long run.
The launch event saw massive participation of telecentre practitioners and stakeholders in Bangladesh. Over 1,500 of the national visionaries, innovators, practitioners and policy makers had gathered. The event mobilised and provided a platform for social entrepreneurs, practitioners, private sector, media, government, development partners, academia, research institutions, and civil society organisations for building a vibrant network of telecentres in Bangladesh.
Another key event was the telecentre exhibition launch. Tapan Chowdhury, Honourable Advisor to the Caretaker Government, Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology (MOSICT), launched the exhibition. Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhury, Chairperson, BTN; Ananya Raihan, Secretary General, BTN; Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, Vice Chancellor, BRAC University & Advisor BTN; BTN members; and other distinguished guests were present during the exhibition launch. A total of 17 stalls were installed by different organisations in the exhibition. The members of BTN showcased their telecentre models and activities in the exhibition. All stalls were opened for visitors after the launching programme.
The key highlight of the two-day event was the storytelling session. In order to inspire and attract the attention of participants BTN had arranged for this session. Eight telecentre managers, namely, Saidur Rahman of Community Information Centre; Umma Salma of Pallitathya Kendra; Mehedi of Digital Equity Network; Mitul of Win Incorporate; Achya Khanam of Amader Gram; Altaf Hossain of Young Power in Social Action (YPSA); Mamun of Practical Action; and Haider Ali of Grameen Telecom participated in the storytelling session. They shared their success stories and challenges of telecentre operations in rural Bangladesh. The session was very valuable and provided me an understanding of their day-to-day activities, community mobilisation techniques, reaching out to local community, understanding local needs, approaches to include the excluded, and to provide livelihoods information from their telecentres.
With the hope that, these telecentre managers are the heart of development in Bangladesh and will take forward the global telecentre movement, we proceeded to attend the Third Global Knowledge Conference (GK3) at Malaysia. I will share more stories about my visit to Kuala Lumpur in my next blog. Look for it!
- while reading this, I had a nap. It was 06th December 2007, pre-dawn time, Shaddy (Basheerhamad Shadrach, Sr. Programme Ofiicer, telecentre.org) and I reached ZIA International Airport, Dhaka to attend the launch of Mission 2011 by Bangladesh Telecentre Network (BTN).
I experienced my most joyful and knowledgeable two days with Shaddy. My bigger lessons were drawn from talking to him and watching him, and his attitude towards listening and knowledge sharing. Shaddy shared his extensive involvement and telecentre.org's support from the conceptual stage of BTN to the launch of Mission 2011. Here I must mention about the BRAC Centre Inn, where we had stayed. BRAC Centre Inn is a part of BRAC, the largest non-governmental organisation in the world and employs around 100, 000 people. I was happy to know that BRAC is one of the BTN Partners. Shaddy pointed out a corner table at the BRAC Centre Inn's restaurant, from where Ananya Raihan, he and other telecentre activists had sat together to conceptualise the Mission 2011, almost a year earlier.
After a quick breakfast, along with Arun (Subbiah Arunachalam of MSSRF) and other delegates from Bhutan, we moved towards the venue for the launch. Vehicles were moving at snail's pace due to heavy traffic jam in the city. We were told that it is not unusual for them. Arun, is full of optimism and has been involved with various development projects in Bangladesh. He shared his observations about various development issues in Bangladesh.
We reached the Bangladesh China Friendship Convention Centre (BCFCC), the venue for the event. Amidst tight security, the Chief guest - Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Advisor to the caretaker government of Bangladesh reached the venue. The event started with a welcome address of Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, Chairperson, BTN. Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, Vice Chancellor of BRAC University presented the keynote paper. In his paper, he told that telecentres could play a key role in disaster preparedness as well as in managing post-disaster relief and rehabilitation. He gave an example of recent experience of Cyclone Sidr, which devastated the South-Western part of Bangladesh. He also mentioned that telecentres might contribute significantly in raising public awareness about disaster mitigation and other important areas.
Following a brief multimedia presentation on telecentre practices in Bangladesh, Basheerhamad Shadrach of telecentre.org shared the vision of telecentre.org and how India's Mission 2007 inspired Bangladesh Telecentre Network (BTN) to launch Mission 2011. He pointed out four key challenges facing the movement in Bangladesh namely, (i) connectivity, (ii) local content development, (iii) services, and (iv) capacity of the infomediary. Prof Subbiah Arunachalam, Executive Committee member of Global Knowledge Partnership and fellow of M S Sawminathan Research Foundation, India, Renata L Desallien, UNDP Resident Representative, Major General. Manjurul Alam (Retired), Chairman of BTRC and Tapan Chowdhury, Science and ICT Advisor also spoke at the function.
At around 11.00 AM, Honourable Chief Advisor to the caretaker government of Bangladesh announced the launch of Mission 2011 of Bangladesh Telecentre Network, which targeted to set up 40,000 telecentres by 2011, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the glorious independence of Bangladesh. The vision of Mission 2011 is to make an inclusive knowledge society in Bangladesh, where the poor and the marginalised people get access to information and knowledge for improving their livelihood through the use of modern information and communication technologies.
In his speech, the honourable chief advisor called for empowering poor, disadvantaged and rural population through providing them with access to the information superhighway for building a prosperous Bangladesh. He urged all to help make the Mission 2011 a success, which can usher in a new era in the country's march towards progress. Addressing the function, he hoped that Mission 2011 would play a significant role in unleashing the immense power of ICT for the country's national development and help achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the medium term and a poverty-free Bangladesh in the long run.
The launch event saw massive participation of telecentre practitioners and stakeholders in Bangladesh. Over 1,500 of the national visionaries, innovators, practitioners and policy makers had gathered. The event mobilised and provided a platform for social entrepreneurs, practitioners, private sector, media, government, development partners, academia, research institutions, and civil society organisations for building a vibrant network of telecentres in Bangladesh.
Another key event was the telecentre exhibition launch. Tapan Chowdhury, Honourable Advisor to the Caretaker Government, Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology (MOSICT), launched the exhibition. Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhury, Chairperson, BTN; Ananya Raihan, Secretary General, BTN; Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, Vice Chancellor, BRAC University & Advisor BTN; BTN members; and other distinguished guests were present during the exhibition launch. A total of 17 stalls were installed by different organisations in the exhibition. The members of BTN showcased their telecentre models and activities in the exhibition. All stalls were opened for visitors after the launching programme.
The key highlight of the two-day event was the storytelling session. In order to inspire and attract the attention of participants BTN had arranged for this session. Eight telecentre managers, namely, Saidur Rahman of Community Information Centre; Umma Salma of Pallitathya Kendra; Mehedi of Digital Equity Network; Mitul of Win Incorporate; Achya Khanam of Amader Gram; Altaf Hossain of Young Power in Social Action (YPSA); Mamun of Practical Action; and Haider Ali of Grameen Telecom participated in the storytelling session. They shared their success stories and challenges of telecentre operations in rural Bangladesh. The session was very valuable and provided me an understanding of their day-to-day activities, community mobilisation techniques, reaching out to local community, understanding local needs, approaches to include the excluded, and to provide livelihoods information from their telecentres.
With the hope that, these telecentre managers are the heart of development in Bangladesh and will take forward the global telecentre movement, we proceeded to attend the Third Global Knowledge Conference (GK3) at Malaysia. I will share more stories about my visit to Kuala Lumpur in my next blog. Look for it!
Contact Name: Vignesh
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