Networking for Sustainable Human Development in Bangladesh
Table of contents
Introduction
Knowledge, IT and Sustainable Development
Sustainable Human Development in Bangladesh and IT
From NEMAP to SEMP/SDNP - Bringing IT to the Centrestage of Sustainable Human Development
Main activities that have been proposed under the SDN
Within Bangladesh the SDN is expected to collaborate with
Within the United Nations System, the SDN is expected to collaborate with
In the recent and not so recent past, development literature and practice has exhibited two strands of thought. The not so recent one is that of the importance of sound natural resource management for sustaining the development process. The second one relates to the importance of knowledge as an input in that process. This paper tries to show how in the Bangladesh context the two may be intertwined and a very powerful tool, information technology (IT), can be pressed into service to utilize knowledge for sustainable development in the country.
The rest of this paper is structured in the following manner:
The next section tries to sketch very briefly the importance of
knowledge in the development process. The subsequent section deals, again
briefly, with the 1992 Rio Summit and its follow-up activities and indicates how
the latter ties in with new thinking on growth and foster sustainable
development. Section 4 then describes the Bangladesh perspectives in terms of
its recent development scenario followed by in Section 5 how some of the above
ideas are now being put in practice in the form of a specific project, the
Sustainable Development Network Project (SDNP). An outline of the broad expected
features of SDNP more specifically its conceptualization and operational
principles are given. The technicalities of the latter are not discussed as this
is the subject matter of a following paper.
Knowledge, IT and Sustainable Development
Historically, the process of development has been fostered by two types of revolutions, an agrarian revolution and an industrial surge, both fuelled by the release of production potentials of the main material inputs, respectively land and capital, through technological innovations. While such revolutions have not yet completely worked themselves out in many, particularly developing, countries, they are now faced with a third phase of development, one characterized by what may be called the knowledge revolution. There appears to be one or two differences between the first two and the third that may be crucial in the process of sustainable human development and the use of certain mediums such as IT.
In case of the agrarian and industrial revolutionary changes, while inputs of knowledge through changes in technology were important, the main inputs were land and capital. These material inputs were and are held in general as private properties. As a result, the fruits of human labour working upon those inputs were privately appropriated and naturally helped little in removing existing income inequality and poverty, except in very specific circumstances. Then again, both the agricultural and the industrial revolutions depended and continue to depend on the extensive use of natural resources. Thus, for faster growth these inputs or their services were and continue to be extensively fed into the production process in the countries of the South, the countries depending to a very large extent on agriculture and other extractive industries, and ultimately over-consumed in the industrialized countries through a process of trade.
Opposed to the above changes fostering material production within the economy, the new trend appears to be what is sometime alluded to as knowledge-based. Indeed, authors such as Chichilnisky (1998) argue that industrialized countries such as the USA are on the threshold of a knowledge-revolution that would give a tremendous boost to productivity. Such a knowledge-based economic system has several characteristics. In the first place, while the production of knowledge may be privately managed, the output is a public good in the sense that its use by some does not diminish its quantum either to the current user or the potential future users.
Secondly, knowledge itself is the most important input into the production process. As knowledge is like a public good from which no body can be excluded without a specific effort, the fruits of the new changes are more likely to be more equitably distributed than previous such changes (during agrarian and industrial revolutions).
Knowledge has another characteristics which is that it actually resides in the brain of the recipients/workers the process of which enriches the human capital and thus in general creates more favourable conditions for growth. Furthermore, knowledge is environmentally almost benign as its production, transmission and use involve low inputs of natural resources. Thus as knowledge sectors become more important and growth becomes more knowledge-intensive as opposed to being natural resource-intensive as at present, growth becomes more and more environmentally benign. At the same time such an economy becomes more dependent on the quality of human resources increasing the demand for education, nutrition and health giving further impetus to growth when such demands are met.
Knowledge is unlike other goods in that it may be transmitted through various means, the print media, books, electronic media and of course, most importantly IT. Furthermore, unlike other goods, IT transmits knowledge instantaneously to numerous users who then can use it for various purposes including increase in production, cheapening output and the improvement of the quality of life. Thus knowledge drives change facilitated by IT, its medium. And IT probably is much less natural-resource intensive than other media of knowledge. In any case, IT is also the fastest spreading medium.
As IT is the medium through which knowledge will increasingly
flow, the spread of the IT in the developing nations becomes extremely
important. On the other hand because IT flourishes only where there are skilled
manpower, this gives a fillip to the system of education, training and skill
formation thereby enriching the quality of life of the recipients. At the same
time, of course, it helps growth and thereby in poverty eradication in
developing countries. Herein lies the importance of IT and knowledge in
developing countries such as Bangladesh. The specific Bangladesh case is
discussed in Sections 4 and 5. But before that one needs to refer to another
parallel development, the Rio Summit and its ramifications.
Rio Summit, Agenda 21 And IT
That human action on nature for production, consumption and life support may ultimately destroy or degrade much of the natural resource base has been acknowledged at least for hundred years. Yet, it is only during the last several decades that the urgency of proper environment and natural resource management for sustainable development has been recognised. The intensive debates and thinking during this period ultimately led to a meeting in the first two weeks of June 1992 of delegates representing more than 178 governments in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil with one common goal in mind: to formulate a program of action for sustainable development - worldwide. Popularly known as the Rio Earth Summit, it finalised and adopted what came to be known as the Agenda 21 which can be taken to be the ‘blueprint’ for sustainable development actions to be taken globally. It is meant to be used by governments worldwide, the United Nations and by all the non-government and independent sector groups.
In all twenty-seven principles were agreed on in the conference. Of these, Principle 9 states that "States should cooperate to strengthen endogenous capacity-building for sustainable development by improving scientific understanding through exchanges of scientific and technological knowledge, and by enhancing the development, adaptation, diffusion and transfer of technologies, including new and innovative technology."
Chapter 40 of Agenda 21 titled "Information for Decision-Making" is based on this principle. Chapter 40 outlines and stresses the need for information in the decision-making processes for a sustainable development action plan.
The chapter begins with the statement: "In sustainable development, everyone is a user and provider of information, considered in the broad sense. The needs for information arises at all levels, from that of senior decision makers at the national and international levels to the grass-root and individual levels." And this is the core concept of the "Sustainable Development Networking Programme" the SDNP; that for any joint and coordinated effort for sustainable development, all the individuals involved must have unhindered access to the data that they may require and that they should be able to provide any such data that others may require without any hindrance.
The SDNP is therefore an initiative taken by the United Nations to start information networking in developing countries with the objective to help people share information and expertise relevant to sustainable development to improve their lives.
Before we go on to the details of the SDNP in Bangladesh, the discussion in this and the earlier section may now be bound together. On the one hand we find that there is a call for action, particularly unhindered sharing of information for fostering a sustainable development process; while, on the other, we find that information and knowledge is now considered to be the major, if not the most important input in this process. Furthermore, as indicated earlier several of the characteristics of knowledge marks it as a environmentally most benign and equity-fostering and therefore mutually reinforcing the process of sustainable development.
Sustainable Human Development in Bangladesh and IT
Bangladesh, as most people know, is a poor, developing country, frequently ravaged by natural hazards such as floods and cyclones with a very large population (nearly 120 million or more by mid-nineties), very low per capita income (less than $200) and low levels of literacy (30-35%). Infant mortality, though falling is still very high (67 per thousand). Agriculture is the major economic activity accounting for around 25% of GDP directly while industries contribute only a modest share (10-12%). Unemployment is widespread, particularly among high school graduates. Growth rate of the economy, except in a few years, historically has been at most 5% or even less. All statistics from Bangladesh are, however, not grim. Mention may be made of two particular bright spots.
One particular success has been that, thanks to technological changes, agricultural, particularly food production has been able to keep pace with the growth in population. The other glimmer of hope has been provided by the largely successful micro credit revolution in which millions of poor, particularly women borrowers, have been provided with credit to start small businesses and create self-employment. The success of the experiments of the Grameen Bank and similar other such organisations are by now well known.
Side by side, there have been other grave failures, though. Environmental problems have reared their ugly heads and unless checked soon enough, much of the new hopes for growth and poverty alleviation can be extinguished. There is already the frequent occurrences of disasters of various kinds. Add to that land degradation, deforestation, high insanitary conditions in the human habitats both in the rural and urban areas due to very high density of population and the lack of the modicrum of even the most basic amenities of life, air pollution in the cities all of which are posing major threats to life and livelihood of millions of people, particularly the poor. As if these are not enough contamination from naturally occurring arsenic compounds in the sub-soil has become the new scare. And, of course, there is also the spectre of the sea level rise as a consequence of global warming.
The question of sustainable human development (SHD) is, therefore, a combination of several separate but intertwined challenges the first and foremost among them is reduction of poverty through employment generation within a foreseeable future which would necessitate a much faster rate of growth than has historically been achieved (around 5%). Second, the growth must be environment-friendly and resource-saving as otherwise the longer-term prospects of growth itself would be jeopardised. On the other hand, the people needs to be given basic education, ensured hygienic conditions of livelihood and be taught cheap techniques for purifying water from contamination from harmful pathogens and chemical compounds. In short, they need to be constantly fed with new and useful knowledge and exhorted to take advantage of such knowledge for creation of value within the economy, improve their quality of life and lead a fuller life than that at present. A networking for information-sharing is thus absolutely essential among the people in general and among the development thinkers and practitioners, in particular, at every level.
From NEMAP to SEMP/SDNP - Bringing IT to the Centrestage of Sustainable Human Development
Environmental issues have increasingly received attention in Bangladesh from various quarters including the government, donors, political parties, NGOs and other advocacy groups. The attempts at finding solutions to the various environmental problems has led to the preparation in the mid-nineties of a National Environment Management Action Plan (NEMAP) by the Government with support from the UNDP [Ministry of Environment & Forest, 1995 #6]. The recommendations of NEMAP finally resulted in the Sustainable Environment Management Programme (SEMP) financed by UNDP. The objective of SEMP which has 26 components, is to initiate activities which will create awareness among the people, policy-makers, development thinkers and practitioners, understand some of the mechanisms of resource degradations in specific areas for appropriate interventions and exchange knowledge and information among all stakeholders in sustainable human development in the country. The Sustainable Development Network Project (SDNP), one of the 26 components, to be implemented by the BIDS is expected to achieve the first and the third objectives.
Main activities that have been proposed under the SDN are :
- institutionalize SDN with the participation of government, NGOs, civil societies, media agencies, academic/research institutions;
- capacity/need assessment by type of institutions and by level of existing and potential users;
- setting up of the technological framework at the central hub and develop at least 5 regional nodal points;
- develop/ connect 500 active users;
- impart training to the users and monitor usage of network and follow up services;
- motivate, mobilize, disseminate and advertise specialized information on SHD, poverty alleviation, disaster management, agriculture/food security, health, education as well as Agenda/ Capacity 21 related information (it will also cover R & D )
- installation of equipment at four levels : (a) Local Area Networking (intra-office), (b) Wide Area Networking (intra and inter cities), (c) microwave links (coastal and other area) and (d) on-line networking.
Under this programme UNDP provides a starter kit to support the establishment of new SDN. The kit includes basic tools and resources to meet individual needs and circumstances of SDN while ensuring longer-term compatibility with other such networks. The kits include hardware, software, key databases, management and training tools, decision support tools, and information on using consultative processes.
Within Bangladesh the SDN is expected to collaborate with :
- Concerned Ministries of the Government to be involved in implementing Agenda 21 as well as agencies implementing projects under UN System;
- GOB and NGOs involved in disaster management programs;
- Both GO/NGO involved in specialized information generation on poverty, agriculture/food security, environment, disaster related, employment and skill development, trade, health and education and sustainable human development.
- Academic/ research institutions, Public Libraries and National and Regional Press Clubs.
Within the United Nations System, the SDN is expected to collaborate with :
- Networking with all the UN agencies working in Bangladesh;
- Earthwatch and Environment Information Networking / INFOTERRA of UNEP
- The Sustainable Development Commission/ UNCED
- ACCIS : The Advisory Committee for Coordination of Information Systems which helps users gain access to United Nations databases and information resources.
- The Global Environment Facility (GEF)
- Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme of UNDP.
It is thus clear that the SDN constitutes an important step in fostering sustainable human development in Bangladesh and plans to utilise IT as the medium for spreading existing and new knowledge, both home-grown and that obtained globally, for the purpose. While commendable, the coordination needs, however, are tremendous. Furthermore, there is a need to process the available information before channeling that through the network as people may not be able to understand them properly if not related to the local contexts and expressed in their own everyday language. That remains a big challenge.
While the BIDS is implementing the SDNP, it needs help from many people. A Steering Committee under the Chair of one of the ablest personality is being set up. This Committee shall provide the necessary guidance for running the project. One of the Research Directors in BIDS is in charge of direction of the project. He is being helped and will be helped by some of the IT persons from within BIDS establishment on a full-time basis. Others including a full-time Project Coordinator are being hired from outside.
A Pilot Phase has been tentatively envisaged under which the beginning of a central hub at BIDS premises will take place over the next few months. Initially, the network will connect the SEMP component offices and a few other related institutions. The technical details will be provided in the next paper to be presented.
By far the most important aspect of the whole exercise is not IT as such or the hardware; but, the content of the message that is to be put through in the network. The experiences of the development practitioners in this country is vast. Information needs to be shared as indicated earlier in areas of poverty reduction, health, disaster-management, water management, land use, innovations made by people, experiences with technology and many others. To be easily comprehensible, the raw data must be processed in some suitable form. For this to happen, the way various institutions produce their information has to be clearly known. Indeed, some of these organisations may not publish any information at all. Generation of data, their processing and dissemination is therefore going to be the real challenge. While the installation of the equipment in the Central Hub is going on we will initiate actions for collection of information on data generated by various information providers and the manner in which information users would like them to be. These information will then be processed and presented and discussed in a follow-up workshop for standardisation of data collection formats, their processing for final dissemination. This is going to be an on-the job-learning process with active participation of the stake-holders.
There are some information which perhaps can be shared right away or increasingly so in the future. There are various libraries the resources of which are not widely known. Some of these are also specialised and partly or wholly computerised. One can think of bringing them under the network so that all the users can get access to the information resources, particularly those under the UN agencies.
There are other networks related to sustainable development or related fields world-wide. SDNP can easily connect the users to these networks at a low cost. The SDNP's Web page may link to their Web pages and those of other related institutions in the country. Finally of course, the links to SDNP in other countries is expected to be an important feature as soon as possible.
All these activities are going to be quite costly. The UNDP will provide funds for only a limited time. If we want the SDNP to be useful, it itself should be sustainable. And this should be done with ample time to experiment rather than at the fag end of the present project life. We need to ask and answer the question if the services should be priced; if so, for whom and on what principles. We are not going to resolve the relevant issues right away but we must keep this in mind and make a beginning as soon as possible if we want SDNP to be sustainable over time.
Abdullah, A. A., M. Hasanullah and Q. Shahabuddin (1995), "Bangladesh Agriculture in the Nnieites : Some Selected Issues", Experiences with Economic Reform : A Review of Bangladesh's Development 1995, CPD (ed.), Dhaka University Press Limited, p. 127-179.
Chichilnisky, G. (1998), " The Knowledge Revolution : Its Impact on Consumption Patterns and Resource Use", Background Papers : Human Development Report 1998, UNDP (ed.), New York, UNDO, p. 1-44.
Latif, M. A., S. R. Khondakar and M. A. B. Khalily, Eds. (1996), Credit Programs for the Poor : Household and Intra-household Impacts and Programme Sustainability, Dhaka, BIDS and World Bank.
Ministry of Environment & Forest, GOB. (1995). National Environment Management Action Plan, Vol. 1a Summary. Dhaka, Ministry of Environment & Forest.
Morduch, J. (1998). The Microfinance Promise.
Rahman, R. I., .Ed. (1997), Poverty and Development : Bangladesh Perspective, Dhaka, BIDS.
UNCRD and CIRDAP (1992), Integrated Approach to Rural Development and Disaster Management in Bangladesh, Vol. I and II. Nagoya & Dhaka, UNCRD & CIRDAP.
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