ICT based e-government services for rural development: a study of union information and service center (UISC) in Bangladesh

Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has become increasingly important for economic, social and political aspects of any countries. However, the “digital divide” between urban and rural areas has introduced a significant gap in equally accessing information, mass communication and ICT, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh. This inequitable access has strong implication on productivity and economic growth of a country. Government of Bangladesh has introduced various ICT interventions to its rural and regional areas aiming at bridging the information access gap. Union Information and Service Centre (UISC) is one of those initiatives to bring opportunity for rural underprivileged communities to better access to ICT and information. However, no studies have been conducted to investigate UISC’s potentiality to offering access to ICT and information. The aim of this study was to investigate potential effect of UISC in the development of various socio-economic sectors in the vicinity of countryside of Bangladesh from actual beneficiary perspective. This study found that UISCs have opened a new window of opportunity for rural citizens in Bangladesh. It has the potential to empower rural communities to access information in various fields including agriculture, education, healthcare, and law. This study also found that most participants held positive view about the effectiveness and usability of various services available through the UISCs.