Union Information and Service Centres (UISC):

services to citizens doorsteps and UISC BLOG

bringing

Union Information and Services Centres (UISC) are newly established one-stop
service outlets operating at all 4,545 Union Parishads (UP, lowest tier of local
government) of the country. Through use of ICT, UISC is able to bring various types
of information related to government, livelihood and private services to the
doorstep of citizens in rural areas. It ensures services providers and users to save
time, cost and has made operations hassle free. Operating under the Public-PrivatePeoples Partnership (PPPP) modality, these centres are run by local entrepreneurs,
hosted by UPs and supported by central administration. UISCs have enabled citizens
to easily and cost effectively access livelihood information and services that affect
their daily lives. UISCs began operations in 2009 in 30 Union Parishads (UP) through
partnership between Local Government Division and A2I Programme. Within a very
short period of time, on November 11, 2011 , all 4545 UPs were launched the
honble Prime Minister of Bangladesh and UNDP Administrator. Each UISC is
operated by two young local entrepreneurs - a male and a female under
supervision of a local advisory headed by UP Chairman. The UP provides space and
utility for the centre.
UISC blog (http://uiscbd.ning.com/) serves as a learning and sharing platform for
the UISC entrepreneurs and associated Local Administration officials. The blog aims
to cater to problems and issues pertaining to operating the UISCs. Discussions
range from hardware-software trouble-shooting, social problems to professional
hazards. The blog also showcases best practices and e-Leadership regarding service
delivery which, in many instances, are replicated in UISCs around the country. UISC
blog has become a quintessential tool for UISC entrepreneurs and Local
Administration alike. It enables entrepreneurs to solve problems by seeking help
from peers across the country which in turn reduces pressure on Local
Administration for providing everyday assistance to the UISCs. It allows local
administration to disseminate instructions to all officials and follow up on actions
required to resolve issues raised on the blog through a single portal.

e-Purjee: Digital purchase orders for sugarcane farmers

An e-Purjee is a SMS-based purchase order that sugar mills all over the country send
to sugarcane growers during crushing season. Formally known as Digital Sugarcane
Procurement System, this new system promises timely delivery of purchase orders
to farmers. This reduces uncertainty of the previous paper-based system by
enabling farmers to make timely delivery of sugarcane to the mills, thereby
benefiting farmers and sugar mills alike. With advisory and technical support from
the Access to Information (A2I) Project, Sugar and Food Industries Corporation is
running the e-Purjee system in all 15 state owned sugar mills of Bangladesh since
2011-12 crushing season. It has increased profit for some 200,000 sugarcane

growers and also led to a 15% total increase in sugar extraction in2010 compared to
the previous year. Previously, it used to take an unpredictable amount of time for
purjee to reach farmers, it would sometimes get lost, and even sometimes fall prey
to the unscrupulous practices of better connected farmers keen to ensure their
own harvests a timelier and valuable - crushing schedule. The farmers receiving
late notification would not be able to bring their harvest at the right time, losing
vital income because of a loss of weight of sugarcanes, and in extreme cases,
causing a total failure to sell the harvest. Furthermore, delays in purjee issuing, and
the unpredictable delivery of sugarcanes they cause, would sometimes result in
local mills running at below capacity, causing significant loss of public resources.
The Digital Purjee Information Service augments the paper notification with an
instant SMS notification which informs the grower that his purjee has been issued
and that he may start preparing his harvest for supply to the mills.

Multimedia
Classroom
Development

&

Teacher-led

Digital

Content

Establishment of Multimedia Classrooms across the country has revolutionized the

traditional education system of Bangladesh. Multimedia Classroom (MC) is the most
cost effective and potential initiative that has ever been undertaken in Bangladesh
to promote ICT in Education. As part of the education reform driven by the Ministry
of Education, A2I through public private partnership has so far established 500
multimedia classrooms in secondary schools and trained about 4500 teachers
through 400 trainers of public training institutes. Each Multimedia classroom
consists of 1 laptop, 1 multimedia projector and internet connectivity, in addition to
the regular teaching materials. Both the teacher and the students would use these
components to facilitate the learning of difficult course content through audio and
visual aid. Moreover, the access to internet enables teachers to compare how their
respective courses are taught elsewhere in the world and allow them to tailor their
course content accordingly. The teachers can make use of the countless educative
content that are available on the internet and make them accessible to the
students. Following the successful pilot program of MC, Directorate of Secondary
and Higher Education (DSHE), under Ministry of Education has undertaken a project
to establish multimedia classrooms at 15,200 secondary schools and 5,300 Madrasa
institutions.
Another successful aspect of Multimedia Classrooms has been the development of
an ICT literate teacher body. Generally in Bangladesh teachers are not comfortable
with using technology inside classrooms and as such students are deprived of the
numerous benefits that ICT can bring inside classrooms. To this effect Access to
Information (A2I) program, Prime Ministers Office, supported by UNDP-Bangladesh
has formulated a training program for teachers called Teacher-led Digital Content
Development. Teachers professional development and ensuring their ICT
competence is the main focus of this TLDCD program. Teachers are specifically

trained on basic computer skills, internet browsing, preparing digital content

according to lesson plan, locating and downloading relevant lesson plans with
pictures, animations and video clips from different websites, class conduction and
ensuring participatory learning. These additional materials effectively supplement
regular textbooks and class lectures and ensure qualitative education.
A content sharing blog named ICT for Enhancing Quality of Education has also
been developed. Teachers from anywhere can upload or download content from
this platform. This network has brought all the trained teachers, teacher educators
and education officers under one umbrella. As a result, any content developed by
one teacher is available to all anytime anywhere.