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Information Communication
Technology (ICT) and the globalization it fosters have
 created a new
economic and social landscape world-wide, fundamentally changing the
way individual enterprises and economies as a whole function. ICT
improves capacity and increases competitiveness by reducing the cost
of producing and exchanging of goods and services, increasing
management efficiency, and enabling firms to access and exchange
more information faster. Despite these benefits, most developing
countries have been slow to adopt and promote ICT. The Government of
Bangladesh (GoB), however, declared ICT a “thrust sector” for the
nation in 1997, and since then the JOBS Project has provided active
support to realize this goal.
One of the first
donor-funded projects to actively engage in the development of
e-Commerce and ICT in Bangladesh, JOBS draws on its own experience
locally as well as IRIS’s worldwide experience to promote an
enabling environment that will facilitate the use of e-Commerce and
ICT as tools to develop the nation’s small and medium-sized
businesses. JOBS’ ICT program was formed in late 2000, and the ICT
team recognized early on that the biggest obstacle to the successful
adoption of e-Commerce in Bangladesh is the legal and regulatory
environment. Although Bangladeshi businesses are eager to embrace
ICT, the GoB has been slow to implement changes in the legal and
regulatory framework that would foster ICT-led growth. The nation’s
telecommunication infrastructure and Internet connectivity is
insufficient. Internet access is expensive; sufficient human
capacity still needs to be developed; some individual entrepreneurs
and the business culture itself still needs to become more open to
change. In addition to addressing these issues, JOBS is also
promoting the utilization of ICT to foster transparency and
democracy in government operations. Despite the constraints
Bangladesh faces in adopting e-Commerce and ICT, JOBS has been able
to provide state-of-the-art practical support in the areas of
policy, trade, human resource development, and governance.
JOBS is
also affiliated with JOBS-ICT.com to help connect ICT job seekers to
available job postings! ()
Information about JOBS’ efforts in four distinct but inter-related
areas can be found in the links below:
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