A total of 9 innovative initiatives of Bangladesh, including 4 of a2i, have been nominated in the final round for the World Summit on Information Society (WISIS-2022) International Award in the field of Information Technology. Nominated a2i’s 4 innovative initiatives are Digital Platform Kishore Batayan (Konnect), Access to Healthcare through Helpline (National Helpline 333), Digital Flood Forecasting and Warning System and Food for Nation.
Other initiatives nominated from Bangladesh are: Land Development Tax System of the Ministry of Land, National Computer and Information Technology Communication Technology Infrastructure Development (Info-Gov) Project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) under ICT Department, Mobile phone registration related National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) activities of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), and Bangladesh NGO Network for Radio and Communication’s Empowering Youth and Youth Women through Digital Literacy and Fighting Against Misinformation, Disinformation and Malinformation.
The WSIS Prize will be awarded in a total of 18 categories. This award is given annually by the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prize in recognition of the innovation of basic and public welfare technology through information technology and the provision of related services. Various innovative initiatives of Bangladesh have won this award 8 times in a row since 2014.
Kishore Batayan (Konnect)
is an educational digital platform designed for teens, with interactive content providing them with future-friendly learning, skills, and advice to build on the future. Educational activities were being disrupted due to the closure of educational institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic. This made it possible for students to engage in educational activities through various online classes and educational content using the Kishore Batayan platform. About 3 million students are involved in this window and there are more than 36 thousand quality content, through which teenagers get the opportunity to learn various important topics.
National Helpline 333
Various services are being provided through National Helpline 333 to provide civic services to the marginalized people who are out of internet facilities. By adding new services to the helpline during the pandemic, it has become a more citizen-friendly platform. The helpline has provided telemedicine services to marginalized people during the Corona period through the Volunteer Doctors Pool comprising of 4,500 specialist doctors. Various telemedicine services were provided to the citizens against about 7 million phone calls.
Food for Nation
Bangladesh’s first open agricultural marketplace ‘Food for Nation’ (foodfornation.gov.bd) was launched to ensure proper marketing of food grains and agricultural products in the country, ensuring fair prices, making availability readily available on demand and maintaining food supply chain in case of emergency. Through the network of ‘EkShop’ spread across the country, from farmers directly to marketers, stockists, marketers and institutional consumers are on the same platform, so there is an opportunity for price and quality verification and direct commercial communication. Buyers and sellers can register on this platform with a simple and mobile-friendly interface, select all categories of agricultural crops or vegetables and advertise and buy.
Digital flood forecasting and warning system
Improved digital flood forecasting and warning system was introduced digitally to speed up the disaster management of the country. In order to keep pace with the changing modern world, this advanced system has been developed with the help of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), a2i and International Technology Agency Google to help people in Digital Bangladesh before and after the disaster. Under this program, by processing the existing 5-day advance flood forecast data of BWDB, it is possible to provide various types of forecasts and warnings through internet technology at the local community level three days to three hours before the onset of flood with the help of improved flood map.
The voting process is going on to make the nominees the winners in the final round. The last date for voting is March 31, 2022. The rules for voting for the WSIS Award for winning unique initiatives is as follows:
Ø Complete the registration by entering the official website with email and necessary information (password must contain at least one uppercase letter and at least one symbol).
Ø Login after confirming the registration from e-mail and select the project according to the category from the link.
Ø From the drop down menu Category 9: AL C7: E-learning options, vote for the Adolescent Window (Konnect: An Adolescents’ education, soft skills, and counseling platform) project.
Ø From the drop-down menu again, vote for the National Helpline 333 (Empowering volunteer healthcare providers to reach last-mile citizens using low-cost technology) project from the options of Category 10: AL C7: E-health.
Ø In the same way, from the drop down menu, vote for the Food for Nation project from the options of Category 13: AL C7: E-agriculture.
Ø Vote for the Digital Flood Forecasting System project from the Options of Category 12: AL C7: E-environment from the drop down menu.
Ø From the latest drop down menu, vote for the Digital Land Tax project from the options of Category 7: AL C7: E-government.
Similarly, other innovative initiatives can be voted on.
These initiatives aimed at improving the quality of service to the people in building a digital Bangladesh can be voted online from any part of the world, including the citizens of Bangladesh, to win the WISIS 2022 Award. The initiatives with the highest number of votes will be declared as winners.