DISTRICT e-SERVICE CENTER

Establishing ICT facilitated a one-stop service center at every district which provides an efficient electronic version of the century-old manual and heavily bureaucratic service delivery system.

Simplifying the Process of Receiving Citizenship Certificate

Problems:

Citizens faced problems in receiving citizenship certificates because of the complexity of the process. In that process, at first, a citizen needed to submit a manual application to the mayor at the Pourashava Office. Since it was not possible to recognize all the people of the area by the mayor, thus the application was sent to the local representatives for the identification of the applicant. In order to get the identification and recommendation from the respective public representatives, sometimes a citizen faced different complexities to get it and needed to spend extra money. Then the recommendation letter obtained from the local representative had to submit at pourashava office which was later verified by the Pourashava secretary. Then the application was sent to the mayor for the final endorsement. After completion of all procedures, the certificate was provided to the applicant. Thus the whole process took much time, cost and several visits.

For the purpose of social and economic of disabled people in the rural areas of Bangladesh, as well as access to information with Community Digital Information and Service Booth (CDISB). All the beneficiaries of the project are physically impaired and socially discriminated. This project will be helpful to ensure access to information from various services providing organization, employment and income generation, training, capacity & skill development for the people with disabilities and it will ensure their development in a sustainable manner.

Solution:

In order to reduce the suffering of the citizen to get the citizenship certificate, a new system has been adopted where a citizen can receive the certificate by only his or her verbal request and displaying the birth certificate or by providing necessary information.

Then Poura authority verifies the information with the information kept in the national web portal (bris.lgd.gov.bd.com) of birth registration or by justifying the permanent addresses and then providing the certificate to the applicants.

Result:

After implementing the project, the process of the certificate receiving system becomes more simple and hassle-free. The projectable to save time, cost and visit of the service by 98.96%, 90% and 83.33% respectively. Besides the TCV, the project able to obtain some other outcomes like,

Prevention of false certification and recommendation.

Identification of the person whom birth registration is not completed yet and then helping them to complete their registration with a right procedure in a short time.

Heart of all government services

Over the past 200 years, District Administration has been the hub for government services for the mass residing in rural and urban areas. A wide range of useful services to citizens are provided from the DC offices regarding control and supervision of revenue, maintenance of public order and security, license and certificates, land acquisitions, census, relief and rehabilitation, social welfare, pension matters, education and public examinations, public complaints and inquiries. By providing these services, the DC office represents the National Government in the district.

Inefficiencies and challenges of an archaic system

The conventional system of office management and service delivery at the DC offices is paper-based, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive for both the service provider and receiver. Moreover, as it is inflexible so it causes delays in the service delivery process and is prone to abuse or corruption and can hinder access to the poor, marginalized and vulnerable. Due to a shortage of manpower and infrastructure, DC offices are also unable to meet the high demand for services from the growing population. Therefore, it has become imperative to put in place an innovative solution combining back-end automation with efficient services points to improve the quality and speed of services at the DC offices.

Goals for improving accessibility and transparency

Services cannot be truly delivered to citizens’ doorsteps unless they are decentralized. Based on this premise, a2i in partnership with the Cabinet Division piloted the first-ever DESC at Jessore DC office. The District e-Service Centre (DESC) is an ICT facilitated one-stop service center that provides an efficient electronic version of the century-old manual and heavily bureaucratic service delivery system at every DC office. It is located in the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office. On 14 November 2011 Shaikh Hasina, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Mr. Ban-ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations jointly inaugurated all the 64 DESCs – one each in all 64 districts in Bangladesh. DESC has been designed to improve the accessibility and transparency of public service delivery systems at the district level to achieve the following:

- Ensure service delivery at the doorsteps of the people at the least possible time’

- Uphold citizens’ Rights to Information through extensive information flow

- Save time and labor in the processing period

- Increase the number of clients served every day through the use of ICT

- Reduce corruption and increase accountability by ensuring the enhanced flow of information and more transparent processes.

- Greater access and efficient processing has reduced barriers of culture, class, gender and distance in the delivery of public services.

- Enhanced tracking systems will ensure more accountability and transparency in public services delivery leading to better governance. Greater transparency will ensure minimal involvement of middlemen and reduce levels of corruption.

Results

Citizens are now able to submit their applications online from service centers located at the DC office. They can even submit applications at the DESC through the District Portal – a web portal containing information and e-services of a district – from Digital Centers located at every Union – the lowest tier of administration – or from their own home without having to travel to the district headquarters. Upon submitting their applications, citizens receive an SMS notification with a receipt number and date of service delivery. They can choose to receive the service in person from the concerned DC office or by postal mail if the application is regarding the request for any documents. During the waiting period, citizens are able to check the status of their lodged applications through SMS or District Portals.

This initiative of a2i is well in line with SDG goal no.16 that directs countries to build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.