The country's first ICT Incubator, built by the government two years
ago, has been a huge success as the facilities it provides are
considered manna from heaven for ICT firms.

A total of 40 private ICT firms, including software developers,
hardware assemblers and service providers, have so far invested Tk 250
million at the eye catching state-of-art institution at Karwan Bazar
in Dhaka.

The incubator provides the ICT firms uninterrupted power supply,
necessary telephone lines, required bandwidth and security.
Cooperation is faster as the ICT Incubator is managed by private sector.
The incubator was established by the government in November 2002 with
an investment of Tk 20 million. But recently the responsibility of its
management was vested on Bangladesh Software and Information Services
(BASIS).
The annual turnover of the incubator is around Tk 150 million.
"The success of the project has been possible due to non-intervention
into the management by the government bureaucracy," an ICT
entrepreneur told FE preferring anonymity.

BASIS sources said some of the foreign ICT firms have shown interest
to invest at the venue lately but most of the spaces have already been
rented out to local firms.

The demand for more such incubators is rising in absence of a
Hi-Tech-Park, which the government promised to build at a cost Tk 2.5
billion at Kaliakoir, near Dhaka, three years ago.

Some ICT entrepreneurs have urged the government to establish a
similar incubator in the city to meet the growing demand from IT firms.

They said any new incubator should offer training facilities for
computer engineers and programmers.

"An incubator is a place where a fresher should get opportunity to
enhance knowledge and skills. But the existing one is entirely used by
the full-time businessmen, Ehsanul Haque an entrepreneur said.

Thanks : Nasima

From: "International Research Foundation for Development"
To: akzaman@asia.com
Subject: Asian Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Efforts - Please Support

Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 18:43:43 -0600

Dear Friends,

Please support the relief efforts in South Asia by donating to any of
the aid organizations listed below.

These international aid organizations are accepting contributions for
assistance that they or their affiliates will provide to help victims
of the powerful earthquake and resulting tsunamis.

Please forward this message to anyone else that can help.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
PO Box 372
CH-1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland
41-22-730-4222
http://www.ifrc.org/

UNICEF
333 East 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
1-800-FOR-KIDS
http://www.unicef.org

Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
PO Box 2247
New York, NY 10116-2247
1-888-392-0392
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Action Against Hunger
247 West 37th Street, Suite 1201
New York, NY 10018
1-212-967-7800
http://www.aah-usa.org

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC Crisis Fund)
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA
1-215-241-7000
http://www.afsc.org

Direct Relief International
27 South La Patera Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
1-805-964-4767
http://www.directrelief.org

Mercy Corps
PO Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208
1-800-852-2100
http://www.mercycorps.org

Oxfam International/Oxfam America
1-800-77OXFAM
http://www.oxfam.org/

Save the Children
Asia Earthquake/Tidal Wave Relief Fund
54 Wilton Road
Westport, CT 06880
1-800-728-3843
www.savethechildren.org

World Relief
7 E. Baltimore St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
1-443-451-1900
http://www.wr.org

World Vision
PO Box 70288
Tacoma, Washington 98481-0288
1-888-56-CHILD
http://www.worldvision.org

From: "International Research Foundation for Development"
To: akzaman@asia.com
Subject: Asian Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Efforts - Please Support

Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 18:43:43 -0600

Dear Friends,

Please support the relief efforts in South Asia by donating to any of
the aid organizations listed below.

These international aid organizations are accepting contributions for
assistance that they or their affiliates will provide to help victims
of the powerful earthquake and resulting tsunamis.

Please forward this message to anyone else that can help.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
PO Box 372
CH-1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland
41-22-730-4222
http://www.ifrc.org/

UNICEF
333 East 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
1-800-FOR-KIDS
http://www.unicef.org

Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres
PO Box 2247
New York, NY 10116-2247
1-888-392-0392
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Action Against Hunger
247 West 37th Street, Suite 1201
New York, NY 10018
1-212-967-7800
http://www.aah-usa.org

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC Crisis Fund)
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA
1-215-241-7000
http://www.afsc.org

Direct Relief International
27 South La Patera Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
1-805-964-4767
http://www.directrelief.org

Mercy Corps
PO Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208
1-800-852-2100
http://www.mercycorps.org

Oxfam International/Oxfam America
1-800-77OXFAM
http://www.oxfam.org/

Save the Children
Asia Earthquake/Tidal Wave Relief Fund
54 Wilton Road
Westport, CT 06880
1-800-728-3843
www.savethechildren.org

World Relief
7 E. Baltimore St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
1-443-451-1900
http://www.wr.org

World Vision
PO Box 70288
Tacoma, Washington 98481-0288
1-888-56-CHILD
http://www.worldvision.org

The International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) promotes free and pluralistic media in developing countries and the countries in transition. Through media development IPDC helps strengthen communicative & analytical skills of the people and their participation in democratic governance. The priority is given to the projects promoting press freedom and media pluralism, development of community media, enhancing professional capacity and building partnerships for media improvements.
The media - newspapers, radio or television - are ways of informing people and prompting them to interact. Free and pluralistic media foster good and honest governments and make development investments fruitful. They are essential for the construction of democratic societies. Media are crucial for spurring economic growth and nurturing the democratic process. Media pluralism alone can guarantee every community the opportunity to express its concerns without exclusion or discrimination.

But serious inadequacies of media in many countries, from the Pacific Islands to the far corners of the African continent, from the Caribbean islands to conmmunities in the Andes mountains, prevent people from voicing their democratic aspirations, from sharing and accessing information, and from making life-saving decisions. UNESCO created the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) in 1980 to address these needs and to accelerate media development.

What is IPDC?

The IPDC is the only multilateral forum in the UN system designed to mobilize the international community to discuss and promote media development in developing countries. The Programme not only provides support for media projects but also seeks an accord to secure a healthy environment for the growth of free and pluralistic media in developing countries.

For political and ethical rasons, multilateral cooperation is the most appropriate way of promoting media development. International assistance provided through IPDC does not interfere with the integrity and independence of media institutions. Since its inception in 1980, the IPDC has channelled more than US$90 million to more than 1,000 media development projects in 135 countries. The IPDC recently underwent several important reforms to gain maximum efficiency in programme administration, funding and project implementation.

More than ever, the IPDC now strives to realize more effective media projects that empower people to gain equitable access to knowledge and express themselves through free and pluralistic media.

Join hands with the IPDC in developing meaningful media environments in which people can express their concerns, investigate, discuss, gain knowledge and reject violence.


Contacts

UNESCO Regional Advisers for Communication and Information English (file) List of Regional Advisers.doc <

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/file_download.php/2510a243db25145f610dd43f0bffc2b8List+of+Regional+Advisers.doc>
UNESCO Contacts

Wijayananda Jayaweera Director Communication Development Division

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=16804&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
E-Mail w.jayaweera@unesco.org

Phone Work +33.1 45 68 41 98

Street 1, rue Miollis

City Paris

Postal Code 75732

Country France



Vladimir Gai Chief of Section Communication Development Division

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=16809&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
E-Mail v.gai@unesco.org

Phone Work + 33.1 45 68 40 89

Fax + 33.1 45 68 55 85

Street 1, rue Miollis

City Paris

Postal Code 75732

Country France



Valéri Nikolski Programme Specialist Communication Development Division

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=16821&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
E-Mail v.nikolski@unesco.org

Phone Work + 33.1 45 68 42 68

Fax + 33.1 45 68 55 79

Street 1, rue Miollis

City Paris

Postal Code 75732

Country France

Source: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ipdc

IT experts at a workshop day before yesterday development of the ICT infrastructure and knowledge in English are the first priority for the country to enter into the practise of e-governance .

They said English is not merely a language, it is an economy. Some experts also underscored the need for launching a project for establishing e-governance, which would be cheap, faster and more convenient.

These are the outcomes from a workshop on “E-Government Policy and Practices in Bangladesh” jointly organised by The Millennium University (TMU) Dhaka and the Monash University, Melbourne, Australia at TMU auditorium in the city.

Science and ICT Minister Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan chaired the occasion. ICT is a tool to make a healthy E-government environment to curb corruption and to make the government transparent and accountable to the people, the minister said.

Prof Julian Teicher, Monash University in Australia presented a keynote titled, “e-Government: The Relevance of Developed Country Experience to Bangladesh” in the workshop.

Teicher said, E-Government that is a prime issue of developing countries, is a part of strategy as well as precondition of a government now a days.

E-mail has changed the tradition in the desk of ministers as they can produce a healthy interaction between themselves and people through faster services of the technology, he added.

British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury, regarding the e-governance in UK, said “We are in the middle of an information revolution which is changing the way we work and live and we need to change the way we think.” A country as well as its industrial revolution requires an information based economy, he said adding that knowledge economy is the economy of future and that is possible only by connecting people through Internet.

Bangladesh has talents as well as skilled manpower enough to generate e-government with a little backdrop-poverty in mind and vision, not in resource -he said adding that “ E-Government can change Bangladesh and the country needs this change.”

Larry Maramis, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP and Prof Dr Asaduzzaman, Chairman of University Grant Commission also spoke at the workshop.The UNDP representative said, democratic values could be delivered if the country, particularly remote areas, can be brought under networking activities.

Advocate Rokhsana Khondker, Pro Vice Chancellor of the University and Executive Director of Khan Foundation said that E-government is not just about serving a section of the population that have access to the computer and Internet, it can even improve the way the government delivers services like healthcare and education to remote corners of the country.