E-GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: THE CASE OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

In this new era of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) the role of government is changing rapidly. To bring overall effective improvement in administration government has changed their patterns by implementing ICT in different sector of a country and adopting the new concept of e-governance.

To reinvent a country‟s whole administration is not an easy task. Most of the developing countries still depend on the paper-based service delivery and the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure condition is in a very poor situation. For this reason, as a developing country Bangladesh government also has to face many obstacles in implementing e-governance.

In this thesis I try to show the barriers of implementing e-governance in Bangladesh and how Bangladesh can achieve a more citizen friendly service through e-governance. This thesis is mainly a theoretical based study. The impact of e-governance in public service is the main concern of this thesis. Here, in this thesis I will be discussing two successful projects of India and Sri Lanka concerning e-governance implementation. The reason behind for giving the example is that as a South Asian neighbour countries both India and Sri Lanka can be a role model for Bangladesh government for implementing e-governance.

In the conclusion part, I would try to figure out a collaborated model for smooth running of e-governance operation in Bangladesh. It is nearly impossible for Bangladesh government to run e-governance project alone. This collaboration model is inspired from e-Sri Lanka model of Sri Lankan government. This model is unique and best for implementing in a developing country. Bangladesh government should collaborate with donor institutions and private sector to implement e-governance project in Bangladesh. Under the SICT (Support to ICT Task Force Program Project) project some small project already start to get success, so Bangladesh government should do more research in e-governance for better outcome. Bangladesh government e-governance project should be citizen-centric not techno-centric project. Bangladesh government should plan e-governance project in a way which brings efficiency and effectiveness with countries overall socio-economic development. Bangladesh government should take care of that e-governance project objective should be connected with the countries development objective. Bangladesh government should also take care of that it should never make ambiguous vision for e-governance project with its too little capacity.