Evaluation Report “An Assessment of the Socio-Economic Impacts of Union Digital Centre in Bangladesh: Exploring Narratives from the Frontline” Professor Dr

Evaluation Report “An assessment of the Socio-Economic Impacts of Union Digital Centre in Bangladesh: Exploring Narratives from the Frontline” Professor Dr. saifur Rashid1

Executive Summary During the last few years, like many other parts of the world, the people of the rural societies of Bangladesh have also begun to transform themselves by using a variety of digital technologies including the mobile phone, computer, internet, photocopier, scanner, digital camera and other electronic devices. Such technologies are now made available in one centre i.e. in the UDC (Union Digital Centre) under the management of Union Council, the lowest tier of the local government administration. UDCs are now offering an increasing number of both public and private services (more than hundred) to the rural people at low cost, less time and less sufferings by breaking the age-old tradition of bureaucratic public service delivery system at the Union level.

This report is an outcome of an “Ethnographic Study of the Socio-economic Impacts of Union Digital Centres (UDCs) in Bangladesh: Exploring Narratives from the Frontline” supported by a2i (access to information) of the Prime Minister's Office. The primary intention of the study was to assess the impacts and citizens’ perception of e-Service delivery at the Union Digital Centres (UDCs) in some selected areas of Bangladesh. A wide range of ethnographic research techniques including the use of Key Informants, unstructured interviews, case studies, informal discussions, observations, FGDs and narrative analysis have been used to get in-depth information from a variety of stakeholders and service recipients of the UDCs.

The study findings clearly show that the Union Digital Centres (UDCs) which started its journey in 2010 have now been working as ‘one-stop information and service delivery outlet’ at the bottom of the local level administration. It has also been very quickly able to leverage technology to a very large number of rural-underserved people and to provide them with various public information and services at their door-steps. The study provides simple yet critical findings that despite some limitations, the e- Governance initiative through UDCs has demonstrated clear and unquestionable benefits to the citizens and to the local level government officials with significantly improved; much hassle free and more immune from the reign of intermediaries, which were very common even in the recent past.

The present report based on both primary and secondary data discuses about e-Governance and e- Service delivery in rural Bangladesh, describes the study areas, and analyses the outcomes of public service delivery systems of UDCs and their social and economic impacts on the society and community from both stakeholders and gender perspectives. Citizen’s evaluation and satisfaction of digital services of UDCs has been one of most important parts of this evaluation study.

1 Department of Anthropology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Email: [email protected] 1. INTRODUCTION Bangladesh inherits a colonial legacy in its entire public administration system. The British tradition, a colonial imprint, persists in the bureaucracy to become an essential tool of governance (Rhodes, 2000). For decades after decades, people living in the rural and peri-urban areas of Bangladesh had been going through different types of obstacles in availing public services from the age-old traditional bureaucratic public service delivery systems, and in most cases, they had to go through several intermediaries (middlemen) to obtain the services at a higher transaction cost than required. Like many developing countries, public institutions in Bangladesh found it difficult to accurately identify the needs of citizens and respond promptly. Overly complicated and top-down bureaucratic processes, having a change- resistant attitude and characterized by over-centralization, pose significant challenges for the rural citizens in their attempts to avail public services and information. Given this backdrop, the Access to Information (a2i) Program has been implemented by the Prime Minister’s Office of Bangladesh and in partnership with the Local Government Division undertook the project to reorient the existing mode of service delivery system. The main objective of a2i is to set up digital centres at the union level, the lowest tier of the local governments was to improve quality of services, widen the people’s access to these services and finally to decentralize the traditional public information and service delivery centres. UDCs initially known as Union Information and Service Centres (UISCs), was rebranded later as Union Digital Centres in August 2014.

Thus, the Union Digital Centres (UDCs) are the newly established one-stop information and service delivery outlets located at the lowest tier (union) of the local government of Bangladesh. Starting from the year 2010on a small scale, the Government of Bangladesh has been able to establish such UDCs in almost every union to make information and services conveniently accessible to its remote, rural and peri-urban communities. The Access to Information (a2i) Program of the Prime Minister’s Office took the initiative to set up these UDCs to leverage technology at the local levels and to establish public and private service delivery points in every Union Council and District Headquarter. At present, there are 4,565UDCs (a2i, 2017) in 64 districts of Bangladesh and all these digital centres have now been turned as information hubs for the rural communities, from where the rural people are getting easy access to various public information and services.

Establishment of Union Digital Centres in every union of the country has been the result of the government’s commitment towards its people for providing facilities to let people know about the services that are essential to citizens and then deliver those services efficiently and effectively through electronic or non-electronic means. In this sense, e-governance is a new term to redesign the age-old traditional administrative processes to make the government more transparent, efficient, and service- oriented for its citizens.

Bangladesh entered the digital era in the late 1990s. Gradually mobile phones entered the market tremendously as well as brought about some changes in the socio-economic condition and livelihood pattern of people. The government has already initiated e-governance activities from a holistic perspective; in a much more comprehensive manner than before. Setting a citizen centric service delivery vision for all the significant stakeholders is an important step towards that end. 1.1. E-governance and e-Service Delivery

The use of ICT, as an effective leverage device, has now become popular for providing various government information and services to the rural people. In connection with delivering government information and services, the ideas of e-government and e-governance have also emerged as new frontiers of public sectors reforms, although there are confusions in defining these two ideas. Some people consider e-government as an important subset of e-governance (Baum & Di Maio, 2000; Howard, 2001; Irani, Al-Sebie, & Elliman, 2006; Karokola & Yngström, 2009).

The establishment of UDCs clearly marks a mindset change within the Government to embrace ICT as a powerful enabler for the nation’s socio-economic transformations. A total number of 4,547 UDCs were established by 11th of November of 2010 with an objective to provide support to build a digital nation through delivering quality services to the citizen’s doorstep with transparency and responsiveness and in only 4 years of time, the ‘UDC model of work’ of a2i became successful to win a prestigious award from the ‘World Summit on the Information Societies (WSIS) in the year 2014. Following the success of initial phase of work, a2i then moved to the next phase with more targets to drive innovations in public service delivery systems. Since its inception, thea2i project has been facilitating e-service delivery to the public in collaboration with various Ministries, directorates and field administrations.

The UDCs are now operated under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model by local entrepreneurs, under supervision of a local advisory board headed by the UP Chairman at the local UP office. Operated by two private entrepreneurs, the UDC is an ICT enabled one-stop centre where rural people can avail various services of multiple provider agencies. It charges prescribed fees for the delivery of services ranging from access to government, commercial and local government information or services. A space is provided by the UP office whilst the equipment such as computers, printers, digital cameras etc. are provided through support from other institutions. This initiative is an attempt to translate the current government’s vision of Digital Bangladesh by 2021. Through implementing various dimensions of Digital Bangladesh to achieve the SDG targets by 2030, the government endeavors to mainstream ICT as the pro-poor tool for poverty eradication, good governance and social equity. Granting the benefits of ICT to everyone requires to citizens to connect the ICT infrastructure, majority of whom (nearly 70%) live in rural areas.

The UDC envisages for creating a knowledge-based society by functioning as a local service delivery point to bring various government, commercial and social services to the doorsteps of rural people by reducing people’s real time, cost, time and hassle, decrease digital divide and ensure participation of the poor, women and marginalized and finally connect the rural citizenry to the information super-highways (a2i, 2012a). To provide these people with the variety of services and make the model an economically viable one the government has partnered with banks, life insurance companies, mobile phone companies and non-governmental organizations (a2i, 2012b).

Reforming Local Level Service Delivery System and Establishment of Digital Centres

For many years, the citizens of rural Bangladesh have been suffering for receiving services from the age- old traditional bureaucratic public service delivery system of the Union Council and now they have been looking for a change. In the present age of alternative service delivery options and the nearly ubiquitous presence of digital technologies, citizens have fewer complaints about government services. In the past, citizens had to encounter face-to-face interactions with government officials, a process that was intimidating for the less literate and opportune for rent-seeking. The prevailing archaic public service delivery model posed challenges for many interventions. Resistance towards change, from the bureaucracy to vested interest groups, was strong. Many innovations had to face obstacles and could not see the lights. A political commitment from the highest level was important to overcome various bureaucratic hurdles and organizational resistance to bring changes at the bottom level of local government.

The Local Government Division (LGD) under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives has implemented an innovative initiative “Digital Centre: Services at Doorstep” with technical assistance from a2i Programme. Digital Centers are essentially micro-enterprises run by ‘citizen entrepreneurs’– 1 male and 1 female who leverage modern technology to provide citizens, both free and fee-based access to public services (land records, social safety net allowance, birth registration, telemedicine, life insurance, passport, overseas job application as well as application to various government services) and private services (mobile financial services, insurance, various types of computer/vocational training, etc.). Increasingly, the Digital Centers are catalyzing financial inclusion through agent banking and connecting low-income communities to the wider digital economy through Assisted Rural e-Commerce. A total of 11,000+ entrepreneurs of the 5,865+ Digital Centers now deliver over 150 services – both public and private–to an average 6 million underserved citizens every month at much lower time, cost, and visit. On an average, time to receive services has come down by 85%, cost by 63% and number of visits by 40%.

To make sure that services are available in every lowest administrative corners of the country, Digital Centres were setup at every union council office, Municipality, Upazilla Parishad and city corporation ward council office. Digital Centres represent the largest infrastructure and human resource network for service delivery to the rural under-served. By introducing innovation into public service delivery system, Digital Centres have empowered the local government. They demonstrated the possibility of delivering public information and services with easy, cheap and a transparent manner. The Prime Minister’s Office, the highest level of leadership took the initiative to establish 4,554 UDCs in 64 districts of Bangladesh centres with internet connectivity within the range of all the rural citizens (Hussain & May, 2014). To make Digital Centres more competitive, many of the entrepreneurs are now trying to diversify their services.

UDC, Vision 2021 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

During the 2008 national election of Bangladesh, the Awami League’s (Political party) election manifesto ‘Vision 2021 Bangladesh: A New Horizon’ introduced the concept of Digital Bangladesh. The Digital Bangladesh vision was unique as it proposes to mainstream Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as a pro-poor tool. This was probably the first time in the history of Bangladesh that the vision of poverty reduction and human development leveraging ICTs was proposed that received instant support from common citizens. The concept was also reiterated in the government’s updated manifesto.

The Digital Bangladesh agenda composed of four pillars that outline key areas like human resource development, connecting citizens, digital government and private sector. Basically Local Government Division – with assistance from Access to Information (a2i) established Digital Centre imitative for decentralize the delivery of public-private services and take them to the doorsteps of millions of underserved citizen with collectively represent local government strengthening, and community empowerment.

The Digital Centre initiative is very much aligned with a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including SDGs 1, 5, 10 and 16.

SDG 1: No Poverty as it ensures the Digital Centres are operated by two local entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs belong to the poverty stricken population of the local upazila and they are given income and entrepreneurship opportunities which will further motivate others of their type.

SDG 5: Gender equality as it emphasizes on the importance of gender equality by providing equal income opportunities to both genders by appointing one male and one female entrepreneur.

SDG 10: Reduced inequalities is also satisfied as the purpose of the Digital Centres is to reduce the high TCVs and hassle faced by people from the poor and marginalized communities of the remote rural areas by providing them almost doorstep public services. They are now a part of an inclusive society where they have equal access to quality services.

SDG 16: Peace Justice and Strong Institutions (Target 16.6 & 16.9) since it is strengthening local public service institutions.

1.2. A Brief about UDCs: Locating UDCs in Rural Setting

UDC and Its Objectives

The main objective of LGD to set up digital centers was to improve quality of services by addressing the challenges (both supply and demand-side) associated with delivery and access to public information and services, widen the people’s access to these services and finally to decentralize the traditional public information and service delivery system.

Specific Objectives:

 To ensure easy access of common people to public & private services  To provide a supportive environment for creation of local entrepreneurs.  To provide entrepreneurship opportunities to the rural poor.  To ensure the marginalized and underserved population are brought under public service coverage.  To ensure free flow of information for empowering rural community.  To reduce TCVs (Time, Costs and Visits) of people availing public services.

UDC Operations: Activities and Successes

The Digital Centres are the representation of an important nexus of service delivery decentralization, the strengthening of local governments and community empowerment. Other then providing various government online information and services along with a number private service, digital centres have now become a hub for different business, banking, and commercial services as given below:

 11,000+ entrepreneurs of the 5,865 Digital Centers now deliver over 150 services (both public and private) to an average 6 million underserved citizens every month  Total Service provided 464 million  Total earned by entrepreneurs 46.5 $ million  Last addition- Expatriate Digital Centre (EDC-6) & Specialized Digital Centre (SDC- 6)

Agent Banking

 No. of Digital Center Providing Agent Banking Service: 3800  No. of Account Opened: 637,368  Total value of Transaction: 4636 crore taka  Total Remittance Disbursed: 540 crore taka  Total Loan disbursed: 25 crore  Total Savings mobilized: 300 crore taka

Rural e-Commerce e-Shop

 Live centre 3850  Services Provided 2.5 lakh  Number of Product 1.1 million  Transactional Amount 21,124,742  Products on boarded 1253  Micro Merchants at Door step 2000  Number of countries reached 4  Rural Producers 745

E-Challan

 No of Services 18  Total Transaction 2,571,520,816.TK.  Service recipient 86,114  Total Registered User 8,275  Registered Entrepreneurs: 4490

Due to successful Digital Center initiative at the Union level, more Digital Centres were later established in the following areas:

 Pourashaba Digital Center (PDC) was established at the municipality level and City Corporation Digital centre (CDC) at the city corporation ward councilor office in the year 2013.  Upazila Digital Centre (UPDC) was established at the Upazila level in the year 2014.  6 Specialized Digital Centre (SDC) was launched for RMG workers in Gazipur, and fisheries workers in Khulna in the year of 2018.  Expatriate Digital Centre (EDC) was launched for immigrant people in Saudi Arabia in the year of 2018.

Many of the UDCs are furnished with modern need based technologies e.g. computer, laptop, projector, digital printers, scanners, IPS, UPS and Photostat machineries. With these successes, a2i in collaboration with 40 agencies of the government, further launched a service portal called ‘Shebakunjo’ containing process maps and service requirements for over 400 vital services. Permanent secretaries and heads of agencies have been instructed by the PMO and Cabinet Division to simplify these services and make them available at the UDCs. Through this introduction of UDCs in 2013, entrepreneurs got valuable services to sell and expand their service portfolio further. With such expansion, a2i also started providing design (or re-design) support to the various agencies to make their services available from the UDCs. Expansion of UDC (Scale up) Due to successful digital center initiative at Union level-  Pourashaba Digital Center (PDC) was established at the municipality level and City Corporation Digital centre (CDC) at the city corporation ward councilor office in the year 2013.  Upazila Digital Centre (UPDC) was established at the Upazila level in the year 2014.  6 Specialized Digital Centre (SDC) was launched for RMG workers in Gazipur, and fisheries workers in Khulna in the year of 2018.  Expatriate Digital Centre (EDC) was launched for immigrant people in Saudi Arabia in the year of 2018. Now, Digital Centres initiative is innovative and a perfect example of Public Service Innovation bringing services at the doorsteps of citizens. 1.3. Stakeholders of UDC

The stakeholders of the UDCs can be distributed under four major categories given below: The Figure– 2.2 shows how it works with different government bodies at different levels. The figure clearly shows that the UDC is not just a local initiative; it is rather a part of local, regional and national government administrative structure. As per the Bangladesh’s system of parliamentary democracy, the prime minister’s office is at the centre of every activity. Besides, the cabinet division is the nerve centre of Bangladesh Civil Service including the UDC services and the service delivery. The Union Digital Centre (UDCs) are physically hosted in a government institution and monitored by the Local Government Division (LGD). The locally elected representatives of the people are the Union Council Chairman. Their key responsibility is to ensure that the people can access and benefit from the UDC in getting public services and information. Their role is also crucial for finding and recruiting the most suitable entrepreneurs for their UDCs. Beside the role of the Chairman, the DC office, which carries out all the government administration in the districts, has a link with the UDCs offices, so far asking them to send their monthly reports. This helps with the functioning and monitoring of the UDCs. Lastly, an autonomous body, the Bangladesh Computer Council has the necessary expertise, infrastructure and human resources required to equip and train the UDC entrepreneurs on technology issues. The accountability and monitoring structure of the UDCs have been shown in Figure– 2.2.

Table 2.1 Stakeholders of UDC

Categories Sub Categories Services/ Particulars Service provider o Provide government and no-government services o Invest money to increase services as well as to improve Businessmen financially o Support own family financially and socially Entrepreneurs o Provide ICT training to rural citizen o Promote services to rural citizen Social change makers o Motivate rural people for better services o Women entrepreneur inspire other women to become self-dependent. Community Village Police, Mosque Imam, Village Leaders, NGO/Social Representatives Workers, Aspirant Migrants, Immigrant, Businessman General People Vehicle Driver, Fisherman, Farmer, Day Laborer, Trade Other Individuals Person, Haji, Students and Occupational people Program Provide all technical support Member Undertakes promotional activity Encourage people to receive service from UDC and provide Chairman support Government Secretary Provide support forprecise service delivery Officials DC Provide support and monitor UDC Encourages all governmental offices to provide support to UNO UDC Support from government officials for a sustainable and dynamic UDC o Upload data for EMIS, BANBEIS, online registration and Educational Exam result o Aware people for family planning Institutions Community Clinic o Motivate people for birth registration Private Organization o Receive services /NGO /Bank o Provide works to entrepreneurs 1.4. UDC: A Model of Connecting State and Citizens

To make the UDCs more functional and sustainable, a2i in collaboration with 40 agencies of the government, further launched a service portal called ‘Shebakunjo’ containing process maps and service requirements for over 400 vital services. Permanent secretaries and heads of agencies have been instructed by the PMO and Cabinet Division to simplify these services and make them available at the UDCs. Through this introduction of UDCs in 2013, entrepreneurs got valuable services to sell and expand their service portfolio further. With such expansion, a2i also started providing design (or re-design) support to the various agencies to make their services available from the UDCs. The Figure– 2.1, showing the structure of the UDC, is important to get a clear understanding about the strategic position of UDC in a broader national context and would be useful to understand the effectiveness of the UDC concept and the office.

1.5. TCV Analysis of UDC

Before the establishment of UDCs, the rural citizens of Bangladesh used to go to a sub-district headquarter 15 km away from the average citizen’s home or, the district headquarter over 35 km away and standing in long queues to get access to public information and services. For this reason, rural citizens had to incur high opportunity and transaction costs, coupled with other contingent liabilities in availing public services such as land records, birth certificates. In addition, they suffered from a system overcrowded by market intermediaries, predominantly men who acted as gatekeepers of public provisions. For most of the village people, the distance to a union council office is much shorter, typically about 3 km from an average citizen’s home. The very strategic location of UDCs in many places has significantly reduced the time, cost and visits (TCVs) for availing both public, private and government services by the rural citizens.

1.6. UDC Operations: A Model of Public-Private Partnership

It is important to mention that the a2i Program was initially designed as an e-governance project and hosted at the PMO in partnership with ministries. UDCs in Bangladesh are operating under the Public- Private-Partnership (PPP) modality. The private sector is considered as a key partner in each of the initiatives undertaken by the UDCs. For instance, mobile banking opportunities offered by private commercial banks through branchless mode of operation, has enabled many UDCs to remain financially solvent. Such an approach of engaging a gamut of public and private service providers have proven to be of high yield, helping micro-enterprises draw investment from business communities and public agencies. During its inception, the a2i was also strategic to form a number of key partnerships with private sector organizations including civil society.

The primary challenge for a UDC was to instill a certain amount of ownership in the government establishment by optimizing the utilization of resources and capabilities the union councils already have. Assuming that the Chairman and members of Union Council are elected and have an office building along with some financial resources in terms of tax revenues and allocations from the national budget, the new UDCs would not require extra fund for their running. At the beginning, the idea was to setup the UDCs as delivery and access points for information based resources created by a2i. It soon realized that information and services must come from other government offices, NGOs and the private sector. It thus collaborated with the Local Government Division to sensitize the Union Council Chairman and members for ensuring that suitable entrepreneurs are recruited from the localities. The Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) has been providing the entrepreneurs with basic training on computer literacy.

UDCs in Bangladesh are operating under the public-private-partnership (PPP) modality as the private sector is considered as a key partner in each of the initiatives undertaken by the UDCs. To keep running the UDCs more sustainably– both financially and socially, the a2i did consultations with various local, regional and national level stakeholders including the Local Government Division, and large NGOs such as Grameen Bank and BRAC, smaller but innovative NGOs like D.Net, and private sector bodies such as the telcos and the Bangladesh tele-center Network. These private banks design training programs for UDC entrepreneurs so that they can be equipped to provide the necessary financial service with adequate skills and knowledge. Such an approach of engaging a gamut of public and private service providers have proven to be of high yield, helping micro-enterprises draw investment from business communities and public agencies. The service partners of UDCs include public and private banks (e.g. Dutch Bangla, Mercantile, Trust), life insurance companies (e.g. state-owned Jibon Bima), telecommunication companies (e.g. Robi, Banglalink) and non-govt. organizations (British Council, Ankur, and Practical Action). Some of the partners also provide software and hardware troubleshooting support (e.g. Bangladesh Computer Council- BCC, Bangladesh Computer Samity- BCS, and Technology Today). Partnering with newer agencies help Union Digital Centres sustain economically enabling them to offer a wide variety of useful services. Government agencies also benefit from the Union Digital Centre’s infrastructure and resources using them for data collection, identification of social safety net beneficiaries and disbursement of allowances.

 m-Banking (started in 1075 Union Digital Centres) speed up financial transactions at all corners of the country, ensuring financial inclusion of the vast majority of the unbanked.  Through Union Digital Centres, a large pool of skilled human resource to be developed specializing in Information Technology, English, Middle Eastern languages and other high- demand skills.  Women’s lives will be greatly improved owing to the availability of government services and livelihood information closer to their homes.  Greater participation of citizens will be ensured in local and national development as local government institutions and field administration become more service oriented.

1.7. e-Services and e-Frontiers in Rural Areas

The setting up of the UDCs in the rural areas of Bangladesh with the PPP modality in consideration, there are a myriad of implication which have become apparent. Followings are the major findings about the UDCs and their impacts from the secondary data:  Long-standing demand for the right information at the right time at the right place is finally being ensured.  The coverage of useful government and private services has been expanded beyond urban areas.  Financial transactions have become easier and cheaper through branchless banking. A large number of rural unbanked people are getting banking facilities.  Union Digital Centres began operations in 2009 in 30 Union Councils (UP) through partnership between Local Government Division and a2i Program. The Quick Win initiative expanded rapidly culminating in a launch in all 4,547 UPs of the country on November 11, 2010 by the honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh and UNDP Administrator. Each Union Digital Centre is operated by two young local entrepreneurs (one male and one female) under supervision of a local advisory board headed by UP Chairman. The UP provides space and utility for the centre. Local Government Division coordinates with Cabinet Division and Bangladesh Computer Council to establish the basic ICT setup including computers, laptops, printers, multimedia projector, digital camera, webcam and solar panel. The entrepreneurs are free to install additional facilities to support business growth, at the same time, ensuring that the social sustainability of the centre is achieved by delivering government information and services.  Public service delivery will gradually become more decentralized and accessible at Union, Upazilla and district levels with more and more government e-services being delivered through Union Digital Centres.  Free flow of information will eventually build a knowledge based society.

1.8. Financing and Technological Supports

The UDCs get technological support from a2i and financial support from Union Council. The Union Council get funding from the Local Government primarily from their ‘One Percent Earning Sector’ (Land Registration Fund of the Upazila) and from the ‘Annual Development Fund’. Every Union receives 6-18 lac takas in installments from the Upazila, of which it invest certain amounts for UDC purposes. The UDCs also receive technological supports from the government under the Information Technology Development wing. Both the DC office and the UNO office also monitor the everyday performance of the UDC and see what are the services each of the UDCs are providing to the local people. All the UDCs are required to send data about their everyday activities including the service information through an online management system. The system uses an online monitoring tool. The ICT technician and the Assistant Program Officer at the UNO office uploads the Birth Registrations, oversees the visa checks, telemedicine and most other mentionable services provided by the UDC. There are some unions which have more than one UDC. Some of those UDCs have separate computer training centres. For every UDC, monthly monitoring reports are supposed to be uploaded by the ICT technicians and be evaluated by the assistant Program officer (education and ICT). After that all these reports are uploaded in the dedicated servers so that they can be monitored. Monthly meetings are also held at the UNO office with all the UDC entrepreneurs to evaluate the performance of UDCs.

2. Evaluation Study: Study Objectives, Study Area and Method of Data Collection

2.1. Objective of the Evaluation Study

The present evaluation study has the following two major objectives:

1. Measuring and reporting on outcomes and impacts of UDCs on individuals, groups and the community. 2. Assessment of citizen’s satisfaction and performance of service delivery by UDCs

2.2. Methods The evaluation study was systematically conducted using a number of data collection methods including semi-structured interviews, informal discussions, case studies and FGDs (focus group discussions) under several steps. The significant steps are discussed here to provide a clear overview on the validity, reliability and representativeness of the data and the corresponding analytical processes have been followed. In order to get insight into the problem as well as understanding of the study areas, an attempt has been made to review the available secondary sources of information.

2.3. Study Area Selection: For the purpose of the study, a total number of 10 UDCs have been selected from five districts for detail study covering different ecological and geographical locations with an assumption of exploring diversities in livelihood strategies and outcomes. Districts have also been included purposively with limited scope in the study. The UDCs from each Upazila have been selected based on performance/ functional status (High Performance UDC, Medium Performance UDC, Low Performance UDC and Closed UDC) of the UDCs following the a2i monitoring and survey reports. The study has been a participatory in nature with focus on learning and narrative inquiry approach. Qualitative data has also been collected through unstructured interviews of 43 informants using checklists. Narrative method has allowed communicating with the emotional content of values. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions, case studies and local level sharing meetings have been included in the study to supplement the preparation of narratives.

2.4. Geographical Regions Covered under Study

For the purpose of the evaluation study, 10 UDCs were selected on the basis of certain criteria including the geographical locations (Dhaka, Barisal, Khulna, Rangpur and Chittagong), ecological characteristics and the status of UDCs in terms of service delivery (public and private), earning, distance, and availability of delivery equipments, and services. As both Sylhet and Mymensing belong to the same wetland floodplain region, the study team decided to take Mymensing as part of Dhaka in terms of ecological characteristics.

Table 1.2: Geographic and Ecological Distribution of the Study Area and the Sample Size Upazila Name of the Division District Ecology UDC Wetland and flood plain ecology Achargaon Dhaka Mymensingh Nandail characterized by moderate flood Moazzempur River-based ecology, Coastal Barisal Sadar Shayestabad Barisal Barisal ecology Gouranadi Khanjapur Coastal ecology, brackish water Shyamnagar ecosystem characterized by high Sadar Khulna Satkhira Shyamnagar salinity, cyclone and storm Atulia surge. Teesta flood plain with aridity, Patikapara Rangpur Lalmornirhat Hatibandha characterized by seasonal flood Nowdabash Hill ecology, Coastal ecology, Bay Lama Sadar Chittagong Bandarban Lama of Bengal centric ecology Faitong

2.5. Summary Status of the UDCs under the Study

Table 2.5.1. Overview of the UDCs under study No of Distance No. of Equipment Average Name of the Personal from Location Services Items/No of Monthly UDC Investment Upazila Provide Equipment Income Unit Small Achargaon Upazila HQ 40,000 37 10/10 15,000 Urban Remote Muazzempur 10km 180,000 49 9/10 10,000 Rural Nowdabas 5km Rural 55,000 19 5/5 8,000 Patikapara 5km Rural 72,000 16 8/8 15,000

Atulia 10km Rural 60,000 35 11/12 14,000

Shyamnagar Small Upazila HQ 75,000 34 9/11 12,.000 Sadar Urban Khanjapur 15km Rural 60,000 4 2/5 16,000 Sayesthabad 8km Rural 00 5 5/5 8,000 Small Lama Sadar Upazila HQ 100,000 13 8/8 18,000 Urban Remote Faitong* 5m 200,000 28 12/16 40,000 Rural Note: * 35km from Lama HQ but 5km from Chakaria HQ. Table 2.5.2. The Equipments and Services Available at the UDCs UDCs Equipment Available Provided Services Achargaon 1 Laptop- , 1 Printer- , 1 Modem , 1Digital Camera- , 1 37 Scanner- , 1 Web Camera- , 1 Desktop Computer- , 1 Laminating Machine- , 1 Photocopy Machine- , 1 Projector- . (10 items/10 units)

Muazzempur 1 Laptop- , 2 Printers- , 1 Photocopy Machine- , 1 Desktop 49 Computer- , Mobile Phone- , 1 Modem , Weight Machine- , 1 Projector- , 1Digital Camera- . (9 items/10 units)

Nowdabas 1 Desktop Computer- ,1 Photocopy Machine- , 1 Modem , 1 19 Scanner- , 1 Printer- , (5 items/ 5 units)

Patikapara 1 Desktop Computer- , 1 Modem , IPS- , 1 Printer- , 1 16 Photocopy Machine- , 1Digital Camera- , 1 Scanner- , Laptop- , (8 items/8 units)

Atulia 1Modem , 1Photocopy Machine- , 1Mobile Phone- , 1Web 35 Camera- , 1Scanner- , 1Laminating Machine- , 2Printers- , 1Desktop Computer- , 1Laptop- , 1Projector- , 1Digital Camera- ,(11 items/12 units) Shyamnagar 1 Web Camera- , 1 Digital Camera- , 1 Modem , 1 Mobile 34 Sadar Phone- , 1 Scanner- , 1 Laptop- , 2 Desktop Computers- , 2 Printers- (One Black & White, One Color), 1 Projector- (9 items/11 units)

Khanjapur 1 Laptop- , 4 Desktop Computers- , (1 pc was taken home 4 by the son of the chairman) (2 items/5 units)

Sayesthabad 1 Desktop Computer- , 1 Printer- , 1Digital Camera- , 1 Scanner- 5 , 1 Modem (5 items/ 5 units)

Lama Sadar 1 Laptop- , 1 Desktop Computers- , 1 Modem , 1 Scanner- , 1 13 Printer- , 1 Photocopy, Machine- , 1 Projector- , 1Digital Camera- .(8 items/8 units)

Faitong 3 Laptops- , 2 Printers- , 1 Mobile Phone- , 1 28 Scanner- , 1 Modem , 1 Laminating Machine- , 1Digital Camera- , 1 Solar Panel- , 1 Multimedia Projector- , 1 IPS- , 2 Sound Systems- Generator- (12 items/16 units)

Table 2.5.3. Status of Public and Private Service in the UDCs UDC Services No. of Services Total number of services provided by UDCs under study 71 Total number of services (out of the a2i list of 101) provided by the UDCs 65 (10 UDCs) under study Number of services not found in the study areas as stated by a2i 37 New services found in the UDCs under study 6* Total public services found in the UDCs under study 29 Total private services found in the UDCs under study 42 Highest number of private services found in one UDC 27* Highest number of public services found in one UDC 22** Note: *Muazzempur UDC of Nandail Upazila, Mymensingh, ** Muazzempur UDC

3. Major Findings of the Evaluation Study

Socio-Economic Impacts of UDCs on Different Stakeholders: Frontline Narratives of Digital Services

The UDCs started their journey with a promise to make government more responsive to the people and make services more accessible to them. The idea of public-private partnership was the basis of this initiative. The purpose of this initiative was to create an environment for ensuring service delivery necessary for social and economic growth of the country. The present study, undertaken by the a2i, deals with some purposively and randomly selected UDCs. The study has not observed all-encompassing social impacts of the UDCs throughout the country but it has tried to provide a well-constructed general idea about the social impacts that UDCs have brought about in the country.

The study findings gathered through focus group discussions, in-depth-interviews and observation clearly show that the UDCs have significant impacts on the social fabric of the rural areas of the different regions of Bangladesh. It has shaken the age-old traditional and bureaucratic public service delivery systems and shifted the union council from being an only public service delivery center to being both public and private service delivery center. Not only this, UDC has become a place for digital resource sharing at the grassroots level and become an agent for social change. Both service providers and the service recipients are found on significant social changes. Some of the significant socio-economic impacts of UDCs have been discussed below:

3.1. Easing Public Service Delivery at the different administrative levels:

The bureaucratic system of public service delivery in Bangladesh has been a social phenomenon for a long time. The UDCs provide us with examples where the bureaucratic harassment of the people had been taken down to virtually zero, in a lot of cases at least. This decline in the bureaucratic hassle in the service providence has brought back the faith of the people to the government services. The decline of bureaucratic harassment in the receiving of the documentation services had brought the faith of the people back for the government services. UDCs have created the opportunity to readily receive the government services and in case of emergencies, receive the said services at a faster rate than ever before. People living in different areas have narrated their satisfaction in their own ways for receiving various public services at their doorsteps. There is no denying that ICT based information and public services can increase people’s access to livelihood information and knowledge on education, health, agriculture, employment and migration, empower them in terms of market prices, facilitate communication through video or Skype conference etc. Thus, UDCs have become a local service delivery points to bring various ICT based government, commercial and information services to the doorsteps of rural people. Moreover, e-services make public service deliveries and information disseminations easy and harassment free by reducing people’s time, cost and visits for receiving services.

3.2. Increased Citizens Satisfaction about Public and Private Service Delivery from One-Stop Service Centre

The UDCs have been set up with the idea of public-private partnership at the helm of government service. The entrepreneurs in the local areas are engaged in providing services to the people. The entrepreneurs are selected from the local populace. This ensured the trust of the local people in the public-private partnership. The entrepreneurs are not government employees. They are at the same time working for themselves and for the local community. As they are a part of the people and the government to some extent, the entrepreneur has a personal stake in providing the community with streamlined government services. This has made the government services accessible and more people have started receiving government services and cooperating with government policies.

UDCs have created the opportunity to readily receive the government services and in case of emergencies, receive the said services at a faster rate than ever before. People living in different areas have narrated their satisfaction in their own ways for receiving various public and private services at their doorsteps. As UDC is designed for public-private partnership, it is found that except for the entrepreneur of Sayesthabad, all other entrepreneurs (9 out of 10) have some personal investment on their UDCs either for purchasing new equipment or for repairing the old equipment. They have invested their money over a period of time. The range of investment is up to 200,000 taka.

Some of the narratives are as follows:

Kumar Bishwajit Sing of Muazzempur, who works as a helper for a road contractor, feels that he has got many benefits from UDC services. He says:

“Last time when I came here for my daughter’s birth certificate, it was very hard to get. I had to run from here to there for getting that. But now the UDC has become a one stop service for me and I can now save my time too.”

Tota Mia (51), a farmer from Kopalohar village of Nandail, came to UDC for birth certificate. When he was asked if the UDC charges high for its service or not, he replied: “First time when I came here to get a birth certificate, I was given a hand-written certificate and it was free of cost, but now they are doing it by computer. The entrepreneur doesn’t charge that much. If any people sow paddy seeds whole day he gets only Tk.250. This entrepreneur sits here whole day and works for us so we must pay him for his livelihood as the government do notgive him any salary.”

Another farmer from Purhori Village of Nandail Upazila named Sahabuddin (60) often comes to the UDC for various purposes. He says he has a very friendly relation with the current Chairman. When he was asked, if UDC was good or bad for them, he replied:

“Everything is good; write down that UDC does everything good. He (the entrepreneur) never refuses to do any work for us; he does everything for us at any cost”.

Umme Habiba (23) of Haolapara village is a student of National University. She stays at home permanently and attends classes and examinations from home. When she needs to apply for any job online or needs any computing, she comes to the UDC. She says:

“If UDC would not exist, I would have to face many troubles in sending my application for jobs and to do my computer related works. UDC has made my work easy and I want that in future UDC will be more active and give more services to the rural people”.

There are other narratives, which paint a picture of the new era of the government services. They also show the potential of the PPP modality and its usage in the service sector of the government. To corroborate the impact of the PPP model in the UDC services, we can state the following cases:

Jowhor Lal Malo (service recipient), a fisherman from this area has a very favorable view about UDCs. He was interviewed when he was just receiving a birth certificate from the UDC. He expressed his satisfaction through the following words:

“I have never thought that we can have this kind of service from a UDC. I could have my birth certificate printed just like that, no harassment. And this save both my money and time”.

Another shrimp farmer came in to the UDC to have his inheritance certificate made. He said:

“The process was troublesome before but now, with the help of the UDC, the process has become very easy”.

3.3. Supporting Youth employment, Education and Training The UDCs provide computer training as well as others that offer vocational expertise. These vocational experts have brought about another social change in the rural societies of Bangladesh.

The UDCs are providing training to the youth to acquire skills in areas which is enough to get employment or to gain self-employment. Among the provided trainings, computer literacy is one of the most popular. These trainings have helped the youths to turn their lives around. According to the e- Sheba (February 2016), over more than 100,000 (0.1 million) students and youth have received computer literacy training from 3778 Digital Centers. The UDCs are also playing significant role in getting them jobs overseas. UDCs also help them to apply for passports and to pay the fees. According to e- Sheba (February 2016), over 2.2 million rural aspirant migrants including females have been registered electronically to seek employment in different foreign countries. An a2i publication reports that a total number of 5000 online applications have been done for passports and fees for 3000 passports have been given electronically through the UDCs (e-Service, May 2015).

The internet via the UDC has brought about a social mobility in the lives of the rural people that was never seen before. The world of jobs, university education, and government services has become open to them. Due to the presence of UDCs in the rural areas, the rural youth can now search and apply for jobs online even though, if living in the remote areas. The university admission forms are now filled online and then sent out to the universities. Job applications are also done online. This is a revolutionary change, which has created an environment for the youth to give a drive to change their life, what one could not think even a few years ago. Similar is the situation of the migrant workers, as they have to apply for visa and passport online. The overseas workers are now receiving necessary documents from their home country within the shortest possible time. The UDCs have brought the world within the grasp of the rural people.

The UDCs have also opened up new opportunities for youth in the shape of training. UDC services have significant impacts in the hill areas of Bangladesh. The disadvantageous ethnic communities of Bangladesh are now getting access to the computer facilities of the nearby UDC.

The narrative of some of the service recipients gives us some ideas about the activities of UDC and its impacts on the recipients.

“I first met Nantu when I was a student of the 12th standard. He asked me about my computer literacy. I told him that I do not even know what that thing is. Then he asked me to get training from this UDC for a few days. I followed his advice and now I can type both Bangla and English and can surf the net as well”. (Md. Rabiul Islam, a student of first year at the Shyamnagar Degree College)

“It is not only me, who received computer training from the UDC but alsothere are some other people from different ethnic groups who come to the UDC to get computer training”. (Woo Eey Mong Marma, Bandarban).

“I thank the government for the UDC services. The backward people like us now have a new opening for internet services because of the UDCs. The Faitong UDC has made the life of the young people of this area easier. The works for which I need to travel to Chokoria and Lama, now can do here. I can now apply for jobs online, look for university education.” (Touhidul Islam, A Student of Local College in Faitong, Chakaria)

“We get many students for our computer training Program during the 3-months gap after the SSC exam. Students are now aware that they need knowledge about computer to get a better job. For example, Farzana is learning computing here even after completing her masters. Besides, there are many young people and students who come to me to open Gmail and Facebook accounts. I have opened a lot of Gmail and Facebook accounts for locals. Most of those people do not know about computer but use Facebook from their phone”. – Riyad Patwari, Assistant Entrepreneur, Patikapara UDC, Lalmonirhaat

“I am planning to start a computer training centre. I have already distributed leaflets in different schools. I am now waiting for permission from the Technical Education Board. My UDC is supporting me to get me that”. (Hamid Akon (31), an entrepreneur of Khanjapur UDC of Goaranodi)

“To develop the country, we need to develop our villages. UDC is changing our villages. See, even living in a remote village, I can now get computer training here. This is because of UDC. The UDC trainer is very kind here. He does not say anything even If I make a mistake. He tries to teach me very patiently”. (Farzana Begum, a Masters student of National University from Nowdabash of Lalmonirhat).

3.4. Increased Female Employment and Empowerment

Establishing a digital center in every union with at least one-woman entrepreneur along with a man is very much aligned to the vision of Digital Bangladesh. The more number of women receive training on computer hardware and software use and troubleshooting from the rural areas, the more they will be linked to the rural people through their service centers. No doubt that through the Digital Literacy Training Program, women will gain expertise in digital center activities and provide locals people with hardware and software support. The a2i’s recent partnership with the Microsoft has created further opportunity for rural women to gain IT support through providing IT skill development training to at least one-woman entrepreneur from each UDC. UDC has now become a good example of creating an environment for both men and women to work together at the rural level and help to remove the age-old barriers of women to come out from their traditional boundaries. There are many examples that can be cited from all over the country, where women have become empowered through their engagement with the UDC activities. This is not only through working as entrepreneurs but also as recipients of the UDC services. Both UDCs and women vis- à-vis are working as agents for breaking the social barriers of progression. Both UDCs and women are facing challenges but there are many stories of success around the country. Nevertheless, if we look closely at the narratives and make a few cross-checks another social change will become clear to us.

Due to their performance, many of the female entrepreneurs have become became iconic characters in their locality. Their decisions and opinions are now carrying weight. They are now getting invitation to local tea-discussions. The males are accepting their views and the younger females are opting to become more like them. The female entrepreneurs have became idols and symbols of female empowerment and development. Thus, UDCs have created a social platform for women empowerment. The journey of Rojina Akter as an entrepreneur of Islampur UDC of Cox’s Bazar was not an easy one. Having completed her primary education in a Madrasa (traditional Islamic schooling), she completed her BA, MA and B.Ed. by her own earning. It was possible because of her role as an entrepreneur at the Islampur UDC. Did she receive any preferential treatment as she was a woman or because she had close relatives in the UDC? To know about that we can follow a statement of Rojina:

“When I first started working as an entrepreneur, my mother was the member. I was selected as the entrepreneur among 17 candidates, by virtue of my qualifications. Then in 2011, a person named Abdul Majed came as a new Chairman, who had no interest in the work of the UDC. Still we contacted the UNO office; brought in some equipment. Without getting any financial support and cooperation from the Chairman, we built up the UDC from scratch with the sweat of our own brows. And that UDC what you can see has still been running very successfully. When I started my job, people used to gossip about my role at the UDC and my work with a male entrepreneur.

This was the proud statement from Rojina Akter. She is a prime example of what a UDC can do to bring change. Her journey was not an easy one. Nor did she have to receive any other training for the running of the UDC. She had received a training of 6months on the technical aspects of the database. She also had training on Microsoft word and Excel for 3 months. She had received 15 days long and another 7 days long out-sourcing training. Besides these, she had also received training for the entrepreneurs in Cox’s Bazar for 10 days. When she had started as a new entrepreneur, she had faced many challenges and resistance from society. People did not shy away from talking ill of her choice of profession.

Rojina has also ushered in an era of online shopping for the girls of the village. She has bought dresses from online via Facebook. She had bought clothes for girls summing up to 2700 Taka during Eid. Altogether, she had bought 14 dresses. Girls from other unions even come to her UDC for services. She also helps uneducated and less educated women to open skype and imo accounts so that they can talk to their husbands working abroad. The girls come to her UDC searching for jobs in online. She also prints photo using data cables. Rojina says that people take their photos with their smart phones and then bring it to the UDC to have them printed.

Like this, another significant feature is noticed in Islampur UDC of Cox’s Bazar, where a significant number of women come to the UDC to receive services, as this UDC is run by a very successful woman entrepreneur named Rojina Akter (the best entrepreneur of Cox’s Bazar district, 2016). It is considered that Cox’s Bazar is a very conservative area and there are many female Madrashas in this district. A significant percentage of the young girls and women of this area maintain purdah and wear scarf or burkha (veil). The entrepreneur herself maintains purdah and she is graduated from a local madrasha. In an interview, she says:

“I don’t see any problem working in the UDC and every day, I offer a variety of services to many girls and women”.

She believes that, “It is not that, as I am a woman, women prefer to come to me. It is because I give good service to them and I am very friendly with them. I help them to solve their problems, and offer them services very quickly”. The UDCs, where there is no woman entrepreneur or where the entrepreneur or Chairman does want woman as entrepreneur at their UDC have different opinion than the UDCs where woman entrepreneurs are working as main entrepreneurs.

Anita Debnath (24) an entrepreneur of Shaysthabad UDC of Barisal Sadar also shared her experience in the following ways: “In our society, women are not always taken positively to be an entrepreneur. But I did not face any problem from my family. They always encourage me. This inspiration helps me to move forward. Before I became an entrepreneur, people did not realize that I can operate computers. After joining the UDC, I became popular very quickly. They started treating me in a very positive way. I have not been facing any problem working as an entrepreneur. I did not have any training before joining here. I got all the training after joining. I don’t face any problem working with male entrepreneur. There is no difference of qualification in selecting male or female entrepreneur. Now I am earning about 8,000tk per month. This is not enough for me. I am trying to increase my income by advirtizing the UDC services.” Anita believes: “if government encourages us, gives us enough supports and advertises UDC, the income of the UDC will definitely increase”.

Rojina Akhter, another female entrepreneur from Islampur UDC of Cox’s Bazar feels proud for her services she delivers to the local people. Her service goes from doctors, teachers, labors to the students. She says, “Once there were many people, who were criticizing me but now they are my clients.They are happy with my services”.

3.5. Improved Social Networking and Communication of Women

The UDCs have connected women to the world of e-commerce. The women are using Facebook and other social media to conduct online business. The businesses are connecting the women with larger social frameworks. The women of rural areas are being exposed to the metropolitan culture of Bangladesh via the internet. E-commerce is playing a large role here. The UDC entrepreneurs are bolstering their income through e-commerce and they are showcasing the backwater places of the country to a global context.

3.6. Significant Reduction of TCV

The impacts of UDCs can be assessed by using the parameter of time, cost and visits (TCVs) required for getting the services now than compared to the past. It is found that after the introduction of UDCs, people in various remote areas of Bangladesh can now go to their nearest UDCs and get multiple services from one point at less cost and time with less number of visits than the past. The TCV is an integral part of the PPP modality upon which the UDC had been designed. In order to assess the impact of the UDCs, we will have to be able to judge the UDCs as per the changes in the Time (T), Cost (C) and Visit (V) reduction in the process of receiving services from the UDCs. It is found that after the introduction of UDCs, people in various remote areas of Bangladesh can now go to their nearest UDCs and get multiple services from one point at less cost and time with less number of visits than in the past. It means TCVs of the rural people has been reduced by manifolds in receiving services from the UDCs at their doorsteps.

TCV Analysis of various Services Before UDC After UDC Services Time(Hrs) Cost(USD) Visit Time(Hrs) Cost(USD) Visit

Birth Registration 211.52 1.6 2.19 7.58 0.9 1.23 Before UDC After UDC Services Time(Hrs) Cost(USD) Visit Time(Hrs) Cost(USD) Visit

Citizen Certificate 24.9 0.7 1.71 2.97 0.5 1.07

Exam Registration 6.27 1.2 1.07 2.3 0.2 1.03

Death Registration 39.39 1.9 2.5 4.52 0.6 1.09

Photocopy 5.55 0.9 1.14 0.49 0.2 1.01

Computer Compose 16.84 1.5 1.44 0.63 0.5 1.02

Photography 39.7 1.6 1.82 1.36 0.4 1.04

Internet Browsing 3.02 1.7 1.28 0.53 0.4 1.02 Electricity Bill 4.31 0.9 1.21 0.343 0.2 1 Payment Job Search 12.47 2.6 1.5 0.75 0.7 1

Field evidences and the a2i documents suggest that 5865+ Digital Centres have significantly facilitated the access and use of the selected public services the Digital Centres. As a result, Digital Centres have emerged as a “trust-worthy” service delivery outlet catering to relevant and important services at the doorstep of the people. Within a maximum distance of 4 Km, Digital Centres have shown its promise and potential to reach the under-served communities; and studies indicate a significant reduction of time (85%), cost (63%) and visits (40%) for accessing services; and introduction of the agent banking system at Digital Centre has now enabled easy access of financial services to underserved communities. The number of beneficiaries availing e-services at Digital Centres has grown from 0.5 million in 2012 to more than 3.9 million in 2018. Most importantly, local KIs noted that Digital Centres have significant potentials to cater to the different services being provided by the private sector agencies/enterprises. Thereby the Digital Centres could be an effective lynchpin between the under-served areas and the mainstream economy.

3.7. Boosted up Internal and External Migration

Bangladesh has about 10 million temporary and permanent migrants (skilled and un-skilled) in more than 100 countries. It receives more than $15 billion a year as remittance sent by the migrants. It is now the 2nd largest source of foreign currency earning next to the export of RMGs. The aspirant migrants of rural Bangladesh always suffer from different middlemen for getting passports, doing health checkups, getting visa and work permits. Manpower exporters, travel agencies and various intermediaries have been maintaining a vicious circle for exploitating the innocent rural young people who are looking for migration to overseas. There are so many painful stories of losing everything by rural young people for trying to go abroad through various ‘Dalals’ (agents). In most cases, manpower exports are done through various agencies and for some cases, agencies are given export quota by the government. Upon establishing UDCs, the government took an initiative to recruit workers through UDCs and got a tremendous response from the rural young people as it significantly changed the whole scenario of being exploited by various agents in the name of migration. As a part of the bilateral action, Bangladesh and Malaysia signed an agreement at Government-to- Government (or G2G) level in 2013 to formalize the migration procedure. UDCs were first utilized to facilitate migration under this G2G agreement at a limited scale with a very limited capacity. Only two services, namely registering willingness and secondly, download and print. The G2G process followed a flow chart. At first G2G instruction and information was circulated in the media followed by the online registration at the UDC. Evidence suggests that in the first year of the G2G operation (in 2013), more than 1.4 million people had registered their interest to go to Malaysia (via online application through the UDC). Following this track record of creating a database of aspirant migrants of different districts by union, many of the union digital centres are now more enriched than the past with various need-based services for the aspirant migrants. Many of the UDC entrepreneurs not only do registration, but also do other works which have significant impacts on migration and the migrant families.

The previous experience of registering aspirant migrants through UDCs for going to Malaysia reflects that UDCs could be used as the primary vehicle for easing the migration process by significantly reducing the current high cost of migration under the informal channel. UDCs, which are already an established decentralized entity and which have enough infrastructure facilities that have demonstrated a capability to provide government services to millions of people. This implies that the fixed investment for setting up a dedicated migration desk in each UDC and its running cost would be minimal

Rojina, a female entrepreneur of Islampur UDC of Cox’s Bazar has happily described her success in promoting migration through her UDC. She says:

o I have opened Facebook, Email, Skype, IMO account for about 600-700 people from my UDC. Many of them can now use these accounts for getting in touch with family members who are working in different countries. o Now every day, at least 10 local people talk to their migrant family members through Skype and imo. o I arranged video conference to show the dead body of a village man to his three sons, who were overseas. o I always help people to send their photos, voter ID, birth registration certificate, and other documents to Malaysia, Saudi Arab, Dubai and other countries, and o People send different types of document from overseas to me for their families through email.

An ex-entrepreneur of 10 Number Jilonza Union of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Upazila named Salahuddin Akbar described his satisfaction of serving the local people specially migrants and their families. He narrates a very pleasant story of an elderly woman who happily received the service from him. He mentions how the old woman expressed herself when she came to the UDC:

“My son works overseas. I have not seen him for a long time. I really want to see him. I have heard that if anybody comes here, you can arrange to talk to overseas workers. How long I am going to survive. I want to talk to my son. I want to see him. I will pray for you, if you can show me my son. Then the old woman started crying. I, then, asked her not to worry about that. Let’s see how I can help you. The old woman then gave me a mobile number. I made an overseas call and after a few minutes, I linked her son over Skype. She became so happy. I had a very proud feeling about this. Finally, the lady took my mobile number and said she would contact me again to talk to her son over phone”.

The UDC helped many young people to register online for the chance to become a migrant worker. Online registration allows many young people to be chosen for going to Korea under the EMS system of employment. The results of the preliminary selection through lottery are sent to the applicants through email. These documents provide the aspirant migrant workers with a chance to go to Korea with less cost and less hassle.

Babul (24), son of a local farmer, has a success story of going to Korea under the EPS system through online registration and processing of application from the local UDC. Spending a less than one lac taka altogether for his migration to South Korea as a factory worker, Babul’s earning is now more than 1 lac a month. His migration to Koreahas drastically changed the fate of his family.- Atulia UDC, Shyamnagar, Sathkhira.

3.8. Increased Access to the Government’s Online Documents and Services

The UDCs have access to government forms and relevant information through a log-in system, and are equipped to assist citizens to obtain some application forms (college and university admissions, job application, passport, voter ID), and to fill up relevant forms and submitting them online. Establishment of UDCs at the lowest level of administration has resulted easy and cost-effective access of citizens to the livelihood information and services that affect their daily lives. Especially where literacy is poor, then assistance with filling up forms and submitting necessary documents by the help of someone else is very important. The entrepreneurs of UDCs can now provide the citizens with these services (including photocopying, scanning, taking passport photograph etc.) which allow the citizen to complete the application process in one visit. The entrepreneurs of UDCs can now provide three types of services: government services, e.g., birth registration, examination results, etc.; information services, e.g., health, agriculture, etc.; and commercial services, e.g., m-banking, life insurance, training, photocopy, etc.

3.9. Created an Environment for Good Governance

The UDCs have had a great impact in the socio-cultural phenomena of bad governance in the political plain of Bangladesh. The UDCs might not have achieved all the aspects of good governance, but from the data, it is clear that they are moving towards the goal at a very steady pace. Along with the PPP modality in place to help the UDC activities, we have found that the UDCs are in a pivotal position to turn the tide of governance and public service in Bangladesh. The UDCs have become a milestone in achieving easily accessible public service via the private-public participation model. The existence of the UDCs in different areas of Bangladesh must be seen in the context of social spaces of the community. Their social existence has social repercussion for the communities too. As the UDCs are set up in all the unions of Bangladesh of all the districts, the social impacts of UDCs are also nationwide. As this is a monitoring project taken up on behalf of the UNDP and the a2i, this project deals with purposively and randomly selected UDCs. This report has not observed the all-encompassing social impacts of the UDCs throughout the country, but has provided a well-constructed general idea about the social impacts the UDCs have brought about in the country. From our observations, the UDCs in Bangladesh have various impacts on the social fabric of the regions.

3.10. Significant Shift of Services from Urban to Rural Areas and Changed the Social Fabrics and Mindset of the People Engaged

Due to introduction of UDCs in the rural and remote rural areas, people are now digitally connected with the global communities. Village has now transformed into ‘global village’. Rural people can now get more than 100 services at their doorstep, what was unthinkable even just couple of years ago. In certain areas, people are not only happy but also amazed. The study findings reveal that the UDC has a significant impact on the rural society of Bangladesh. Many of the UDC service recipients believe that UDC has thrown a challenge to the century old traditional public service delivery system in the rural area of Bangladesh. UDC has taken various modern and technical services from urban to rural societies. They say: “Now we are not only getting public services from the UDCs but also getting various private services”. They think: “UDC as one stop service centre at the Union level has brought a revolutionary change in their remote rural areas”.

“My job as an entrepreneur allows me to help and mingle with all sorts of people in the society, what is even not possible by people like the chairman and his office. I am very happy with my job. My wife and my parents feel proud about my position” (Anwar Sadat Ripon, Patikapara, Lalmonirhat)

4. Citizen’s Evaluation and Satisfaction of Digital Services

A citizen’s evaluation and satisfaction survey has been conducted among 200 randomly selected service recipients (exit-poll) of 10 UDCs (high, medium and low performance UDCs on the basis of monthly income) in 5 upazilas of 5 districts located in 5 ecologically diversified divisions. UDCs have also been selected from small urban, rural and remote rural areas to see the variations in terms of extension of both public and private services. This citizen’s evaluation and satisfaction survey (using the scale) on the agreement and disagreement regarding various aspects of services primarily reveals that UDCs have very significant impacts on the rural societies of Bangladesh.

The overall agreement (strong and moderate) about the socio-economic impacts of UDCs is more than 90%, while there is a significant disagreement (45%) (Strong, moderate disagree and unsure) about the sustainability of UDCs, if certain issues are not duly addressed. The citizen’s evaluation and satisfaction survey primarily looked at the following issues: (1) Relevance of UDC Services; (2) Effectiveness of UDC Services; (3) Efficiency of UDC Service Providers; (4) Impacts of UDC Services; (5) Sustainability of UDCs; and (6) Satisfaction about the UDC Services. Based on survey findings, a brief analysis of each of the above-mentioned issues has been given below:

1. RELEVANCE The evaluation and satisfaction survey findings show that the UDC services are highly relevant to the individual, village and the community and the country’s development needs. Majority of the respondents (98%) have agreed that the UDC services are relevant to their present needs. Though there is only 4 respondents who are not sure about the relevance of UDC services to their needs. 96% of the respondents have opinion of that the UDC services are relevant to their future needs and relevant to the needs of the villagers and communities, while 98% of the respondents have agreed that UDC services are very relevant to the needs of the development of the country. 2. EFFECTIVENESS The evaluation and satisfaction of the survey gives a very clear idea regarding the effectiveness of UDC services in terms of quality, charges, time, skills and the helping mentality of the service providers. The findings show that there is a significant agreement about service quality (more than 90%), service charges (more than 80%), time for receiving services (more than 80%), skill of service providers (more than 85%), helping mentality of the service providers (more than 90%) and waiting time for receiving services (more than 85%). The overall findings show that the UDC services are very effective. About 90% of the respondents are happy with service quality, charges, time, skill and helping mentality of the UDC entrepreneur. 3. EFFICIENCIES A majority of the respondents (more than 80%) have agreed that the waiting time and cost for UDC services are significantly lower than the earlier times. However, compare to these two areas, the agreements for the case of unnecessary bureaucratic hassles and sufferings, management structure and its staff appropriateness in relation to their activities and the facilitation of the implementation of UDC activities are quite less. More than 25% of the respondents for each of these cases have some concerns. They are strongly disagreed, moderately disagreed or unsure. 4. IMPACTS The citizen’s evaluation survey findings clearly show that UDC has a very positive impact in improving the living standards, lives and livelihoods, and saving time and financial resources of the rural people. More than 90% of the service recipients agreed in these issues. But a significant number of recipients have concerns or disagreements about the role of UDCs in raising awareness among the local people (20%) and helping women, differently able (PWD) people and other vulnerable groups (30%).

5. Evaluation Study Findings: Challenges Faced by the UDC Besides the success stories cited above, digital services and e-governance initiatives in Bangladesh through the UDC are encountering challenges related to a lack of e-readiness infrastructure. This is one of the main barriers to achieve the functioning of the e-governance initiative through UDC as well as implement the growing expectations of the citizens. The great expectation among citizens is that the UDC would promote e-governance at the frontline, which requires many backend administrative reforms. However, lack of e-readiness can contribute to both lack of and failure of e-governance initiatives. Several generic areas have been identified for assessing the strategic preparedness for e- governance in Bangladesh).

5.1 Challenges Faced by the UDC Management, UDC itself, UNO and District Administration The UDC model for bringing e-services to the doorsteps of grass roots has been in operation for 8 years now. Thus, it is still in a nascent stage. A number of tools and processes have been tested involving different stakeholders at multiple layers. By this time, UDCs gave made considerable achievements. On the other hand, it is very natural that UDCs would face challenges at different levels. This chapter delineates challenges entrepreneurs, Management Committee and DC and UNO Offices face.

5.2 Challenges faced by UDC Management Committees 5.2.1. Absence of specific and elaborate guideline for entrepreneur selection and UDC management 5.2.2. Not getting skilled entrepreneurs and social barriers of female entrepreneurs 5.2.3. Influences in the selection of entrepreneurs 5.2.4. Lack of investment for replacing idle equipment

5.3. Challenges Faced by UDCs 5.3.1. Slow Internet speed and network disruption 5.3.2. Load shedding, inadequate alternative power supply 5.3.3. Non-cooperation faced from UP (Union Parishad) and getting UP works done at free of cost 5.3.4. Insecurity regarding agreement with UPs 5.3.5. Lack of publicity

5.4. Challenges faced by UNO Offices and District Administrations 5.4.1. Inadequate manpower

5.5. Challenges faced by a2i Program 5.5.1. Fragmented digitization 5.5.2. Fictitious information generation from UDCs

6. Evaluation Study Findings: Programs Recommendations

Based on the findings of the evaluation, a set of policy and program recommendations has given bellow for the considerations of policy makers and relevant stakeholders.

6.1. Policy Recommendations

6.1.1. Policy Roadmap and Strategic Planning:  A national level policy roadmap and strategic planning is required for shaping the future directions of e-service delivery in Bangladesh with defined milestones and guidelines on the ways e-services will be delivered and provided in the future.  Stakeholder engagement both during all the stages of policy-making and implementation processes is recommended as necessary.  Together with the regional and local authorities, all planning processes regarding e-service delivery need to be streamlined, in participation with all line public service delivery channels through a combination of top-down and bottom-up planning.  E-service delivery should be included and cross-referenced with other national policies and wider development planning of the government.

6.1.2. Legal and Regulatory Framework:  A legal and regulatory framework needs to be in place including the relevant legislative provisions to regulate IT systems for electronic data exchange and management of IT infrastructure in rural settings. This will simplify administrative procedures and the development of procedures and tools for monitoring and evaluation as well.

6.1.3. Institutional Arrangements and M&E:  The UDC should further consider and address sustainability aspects, including increased community ownership and financial sustainability.  Stronger collaboration and harmonization with different extension service interventions of the GoB and non-government agencies need to be established.  Strengthening peer-training networks may also be considered a key element in sustainability. It is also required to establish a common performance monitoring and evaluation system based on selected indicators.  Transparent and competitive entrepreneur selection process and provision to giving preference to technically proficient candidates for selecting entrepreneurs  Long-term agreement tenure for the entrepreneurs, profit distribution mechanism between the entrepreneurs  Conditions under which financial assistance from UPs can be given and standardization of service charges  Monitoring guideline for supervisory authorities

6.1.4. Public Accountability and Grievance Redress:  Open, transparent and accountable governance of UDC is an imperative precondition for community-oriented public service delivery. Therefore, public accountability aspect of UDC management is important for preventing the abuse of power and ensuring the achievement of efficiency, effectiveness and transparency.  Grievance redress mechanism needs to be in place for efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.

6.1.5. Service Delivery Capability:  a2i program should take initiatives for better resource utilization for improved infrastructure, technology usage and human resource management for enhancing UDC performance and improving public service delivery.  Existing underutilized UDCs should be taken under various skill development training programs (beyond basic computing skills, it can be the technical trainings, SME development training, agricultural extension training and others) in order to improve their financial viability.  Various local need based training programs can be arranged to meet the needs of the private sector in order to help improve job prospects of semi-urban and rural youths.  Instant Power Supply (IPS) as alternative source of power should be installed for ensuring for uninterrupted power supply.  Internet access through optic fiber cable should be ensured as soon as possible for high speed internet connectivity.  Non-functional equipment should be replaced with new ones and old, erased and torn down information boards and banners should be replaced as well  Further simplification measures should be taken for complete and integrated digitalization of all public services. In this regard, digital signature might be introduced.  Orientation for understanding the essence of public-private partnership should be arranged to encourage the entrepreneur for necessary investment  Based on assessment necessary training should be organized for entrepreneurs so that they can deliver information services to service recipients

6.2. Program Recommendations

A2i can take further initiatives to build capacity for quality service delivery and governance of UDC as outlined below:

6.2.1. Capacity Building and Leadership:  A2i Program can initiate capacity-building Program to train local level leaders in developing plans for UDC and managing them and pulling local level plans together into regional plans. The focus should be on building communities’ capacity to take charge of their own development with specific focus on: 1. Awareness raising aimed at increasing a sense of community ownership and motivation for development e-service delivery infrastructure in rural Bangladesh 2. Information systems to facilitate identification and monitoring of problems, {{ Education to improve understanding of e-service delivery and e-governance, 3. Training to establish technical and critical skills, and, 4. e-Service delivery to improve access to basic public services.

6.2.2. Employment Services through UDC:

One of the most compelling development goals in Bangladesh is poverty reduction, which can be effectively addressed through creating productive employment opportunities. E-service delivery can contribute to exiting efforts to address poverty and unemployment. In this regards,  A2i Program should introduce online information services to job seekers and vulnerable groups, especially in rural areas of Bangladesh. A2i can also provide online vocational and technical training, and develop entrepreneurial skills. However, an employment service system can be developed to provide ICT-based assessment, tracking and screening of job opportunities for the unemployed.  The roles and effectiveness of UDCs have to be extended by providing more migration services such as foreign language training, information about safe transfer of remittance and safe migration by creating a database for government sanctioned recruiting agencies, private recruiting agencies, cautionary advertisements/ campaign about the consequences of unsafe migration, etc.

6.2.3. Financial Supports to UDC:  Financial services are required to expand service provisions of UDC. Moreover, UDCs require finance for regular maintenance and replacement of technical equipment. Bank loan with low-rate of interest can be provided so that entrepreneur can increase service provisions and make profits.

6.2.4. Providing User-Centric Services:  More need based services should be introduced in different UDCs in consultation with the local people. Services, which are in demands such as land certificates/ tax, general case diary/ complaint to police, telemedicine, online consultation with upazila doctors, agriculture information/ services from upazila, courier facility, free lancing training, national ID card correction, various banking services, payment of different government allowances, graphic designing, data entry, web designing, out sourcing and others can be introduced in more UDCs.

6.2.5. Communication Campaigns and Awareness-Raising:  Grassroots level publicity needs to be done to raise awareness about how the rural poor can really harvest benefits from UDCs and e-services.  Orientation on UDCs and importance of e-service should be organized for the newly selected UP representatives.  The usability and perceived benefits of the provided e-services should also be communicated to people. A2i should pay attention to these matters by ensuring that e- services are well placed on different internet search platforms, providing targeted communication campaigns and confirming the end-user that e-services are beneficial for them in terms of time savings and user-friendliness.  To strengthen the involvement of stakeholders, campaign by miking, leaflet, yard-meeting, advertisement through cable network at local level and broadcast of TVC on BTV at national level should be arranged, especially the issues of cost minimization through taking services from UDCs. 6.2.6. Gender-Inclusive Approach:  UDC can be effectively leveraged for generating women’s employment opportunities and economic empowerment. This can be done by providing and enhancing three types of e- services: (1) Online provision of information on job opportunities for women beyond the limits of their local economy; (2) Online skills training for female jobseekers; and (3) Online distance learning. The delivery of information services to women, in an accessible language and format, would develop enabling conditions for women’s economic empowerment.  Gender asymmetry in entrepreneur recruitment needs to be addressed to ensure effective functioning of UDC.

6.2.7. e-Health, m-Health and Telemedicine:  ICT applications offer the potential to change the health care system by empowering citizens with medical information and knowledge. UDC can be the most efficient and effective platform to reach out to the wider population in rural areas of Bangladesh with e-Health, m- Health and telemedicine services.

6.3. Summary of the Recommendations:

 Bangladesh would need to develop legal and regulatory framework to support e- governance initiative,  Bangladesh needs to develop adequate data management and records keeping systems and other work procedures to facilitate the move towards e-governance.  Human resource development infrastructure, especially within the public service sector, to support and sustain e-governance initiatives should be upgraded.  The ‘mindset’ of different decision making bodies and their high officials have to be changed through various motivations to overcome the resistances to change and resistance to data-sharing.  Appropriate computing and telecommunication infrastructure in the rural areas of Bangladesh must be enhanced.  Public awareness and interest in e-governance initiatives should be upgraded further.  Management and skill development training for the Union Parishad members should be improved to eliminate different operational barriers for implementing the e-governance services successfully.  Stakeholder’s based participatory approach has to be developed to ensure collective efforts to make the UDC sustainable.

Conclusion In summary, we can say that UDCs have a very positive socio-economic impact on the rural society of Bangladesh. From the opinion of the service recipients, it has become clear that UDC services are very relevant to the needs of the people, community and important for the development of the country. It has significant impacts in the improvement of living standards and the lives and livelihoods of the rural people. The present research provides simple yet critical findings that despite some limitations; the e- governance initiatives through UDCs have demonstrated clear and unquestionable benefits to both citizens and government officials. It has the potential to reduce time, cost and visit for delivering services at the grassroots levels. In many UDCs, the service delivery modes have been significantly improved, gradually becoming hassle free and immune from the reign of intermediaries. A majority (more than 90%) of the service recipients agree that UDC activities will contribute to the long-term development of the society and the local people will get long-term benefits by receiving services from UDCs.