Experts for easily accessible system

 

Information technology experts and professionals on Monday in Dhaka said that the government needed to build up an efficient and easily accessible system as well as enhance the capability of the government employees to run the digital infrastructures properly for service seekers.

They said that the equitable distribution of access to any government services should be a priority in a roundtable titled ‘E-governance in Bangladesh’, which was organised by the Dnet – Development Research Network, a non-government organisation, with the support of the European Union Delegation to Bangladesh.

The discussion was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of e-governance in Bangladesh with focus on service delivery, transparency, and accountability.

They also mentioned that digital divide, lack of awareness and digital insecurity as a challenge while evaluating the effectiveness, and proposed solutions for equitable access, and strategies to raise awareness among all citizens, particularly young, women, vulnerable, rural, and hard-to-reach populations.

Norwegian embassy trade adviser Bayzid Sayeed said that the current parameters counted towards shifting to smart Bangladesh should be reconsidered.

‘The parameters to smart Bangladesh should be that how much people are engaging with the government online services,’ he said.

Fani Farmaki, programme manager of the delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh, said that the current government online infrastructures require people to obtain prior knowledge before engaging with the services.

‘Services should be easy to find, and do not require prior knowledge from the users,’ she added.

According to a United Nations report, Bangladesh has moved up 37 spots in the past eight years on the E-Government Development Index.

Speakers also said that this achievement could be attributed to the government’s efforts to streamline and improve the provision of public services.

Co-founder and executive director of Dnet, M Shahadat Hossain, said that they recently conducted a study to understand the digital divide amongst low income women, and found stark disparities in digital access, literacy, and usage in both sectors.

‘Despite the proliferation of government service apps aimed at enhancing citizen engagement and service delivery, the study revealed significant gaps in their accessibility among low-income women,’ he said.

Dhaka University public administration department professor, Sadik Hasan, moderated the session.

Staff Correspondent

New Age

28 May , 2024 , 00:52