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| Tuesday, 8 October, 2002, 11:55 GMT 12:55 UK
Can we narrow the digital divide?
 Technology is a must for developing nations to help educate citizens, make them healthier and escape poverty, according to the United Nations.
It argues that technology has real potential to help struggling nations, if used in the right way. But the gap in access to, and use of, the latest information and communication technologies between rich and poor nations is as wide as ever. It may seem inappropriate to talk of computers and the internet when many people do not even have clean water. But technology can have a direct impact on development. What can we do to help make information and communication technologies available to all? Tell us if you are involved in a project that is using technology as a tool to fight poverty. A selection of your e-mails will be broadcast on Focus on Africa during the 1705 edition on Saturday |
Digital maps of Bangladesh are proving invaluable in the fight against sleaze in a country branded as one of the most corrupt in the world.
The maps are used together with a computerised national database to decide where new roads or schools should be built.
The aim is to ensure that tough decisions about development priorities and spending are governed by local needs rather than the whim of politicians.
"It has become an excellent planning tool to plan and identify priorities, said Quamrul Islam Siddique, who pioneered the scheme. "This information is open, transparent and available to all."
Political demands
Mr Siddique headed the Local Government Engineering Department for 18 years and oversaw the creation of the computer-based mapping system, called Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Few of the roads are paved |
Now retired, Mr Siddique saw that the system could be used to fight corruption.
"Roads must connect the growth centres or local markets, not just a politician's house," he said.
"We can decide whether a request meets local requirements, rather than a politician's demands."
Interference
Corruption has plagued Bangladesh in the past. The country came top of the public sector corruption list for the second year running in a recent report by the lobby group Transparency International.
Siddique: Pioneered the GIS system |
He cited the example of a local power plant that was built in a politician's constituency, rather than close to a local river.
"The power station has been crippled forever as water needs to be brought from far away," he said.
Less chance of fraud
The computer-mapping system is designed to prevent any such abuses happening any more.
"The maps are available to everyone," explained Mr Siddique, who is president of the Institute of Engineers in Bangladesh.
Head office is completely wired |
This openness means that local councillors are fully informed about plans for their area and are thus better able to make sure they spend their budget wisely.
"People are encouraged by this. We are not stupid any more," said Khasimpur council leader Mohammed Kalimuddin.
"Now they have to show us whether they've done the road that we needed. The days when you could do whatever you wanted are over. You can't run away with the funds."
In the future, the digital maps will be available over the web to councils with an internet connection.
Local authorities see this as the next logical step.
"It will be helpful for us to know what work we have done and what works are pending," explained the Mirzapur council leader Abdul Latif.
"When we are doing these works, there will be less chance of fraud. We will always have a record."
GPS on bikes
Work on creating the first ever accurate digital map of Bangladesh started in 1991. By the time it was completed in 1996, it offered the most accurate and detailed geographic guide to the country.
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Every year they are updated by engineers who go around the country on motorbikes to check the information using handheld Global Positioning System devices.
At headquarters in Dhaka, staff can draw up maps of the country and superimpose information like the size of villages, location of schools or condition of roads.
The department is responsible for 200,000 kilometres of roads in the country where only one in six is paved.
"Our ultimate aim is to create better opportunities for people, to give services to people," explained the head of the planning department, Shahidul Hassan.
"This tool is very important because if you don't have the basic data, how can you plan for improvement?"
She is one of the 500 children at the Roverpally primary school, 41 kilometres north of the capital Dhaka, who can use a computer for free.
Even at her young age, she knows computers can make a difference in her life.
"I can learn mathematics with the computer. If I have any problem with my English, the computer can solve it. The computer can do lots of things," she said.
"I want to be a doctor in the future. And I think doctors need to use computers a lot."
Slow going
Bangladesh has 15,000 schools. But for most of the pupils, the closest they will get to a computer is a picture in a magazine.
But the country's largest non-governmental organisation, Brac, is trying to change all this by putting computers in rural schools.
"Why should the technology be confined to the cities?" asked Brac's Tajul Islam. "We are all Bangladeshis. All opportunities should be available to all."
Brac runs a network of 650 school libraries in rural Bangladesh.
Computers introduced at an early age |
Three years on, it has been a slow process. So far just 60 libraries have computers and they can barely cope with the interest from the pupils.
At the Roverpally school, five students share a computer for 45 minutes a week. The rest of the time, they are taught computing theory.
"This is the age of the computer," said the headmaster Mohammed Abdus Sabur.
"Learning computers has been the greatest thing for children in my school because we didn't have the funds to buy computers ourselves."
Setting up computer centres in the libraries is an expensive business, with the computers costing US$2,000 each.
The situation is complicated by unreliable electricity supply and the high humidity.
The government recognised the importance of training the next generation to use computers. But its plan to get computers in every school has faltered.
"They are trying to make information communication technology a priority, particularly in light of the software industry in India," said internet commentator Partha Pratim Sarker of the Bytes For All technology website.
"They see this can also be an industry for Bangladesh."
Connected school
At the Roverpally school, the three computers are fenced off in a glass booth in a corner of the library.
The school is in rural Bangladesh |
"With this game they learn how to get a good score and they are getting comfortable with the mouse," said librarian Selina Akhter.
When they are older, they can hope to learn about the web.
The school is the first one to be hooked up to the internet in a trial project, so that children can browse the net and send e-mails.
It connects to the net over a wireless link to Brac headquarters in Dhaka, as this is cheaper and more reliable than using the telephone network.
"Although the children might not totally understand how the internet works or be able to read the newspaper on the screen, I read it to them and they can look at the pictures," said Ms Akhter.
'Key to the future'
The school library is the only place in the village connected to the internet.
Library open to all ages |
Farmers can also use the internet to check crop prices and find out, for example, that they would get 10 times as much if they sold their pineapples in Dhaka than at the local market.
Roverpally is the only Brac school library online. The organisation is treading cautiously as it wants to see it works before providing similar opportunities to other pupils.
"This technology is key to their future," said Brac's Tajul Islam. "They are getting information, reading material we cannot provide. They can browse the world.
"The windows to the world have been open to the students of Bangladesh."
Media freedom in senegal by BBC correspondent
Senegal enjoys one of the most unrestricted media climates in the region. The constitution guarantees freedom of the news media. The government does not practise censorship, but self-censorship arises from laws which prohibit reports that discredit the state, incite disorder or disseminate "false news".
Nevertheless, the independent media frequently criticise the government. There are three independent television channels and many independent radio stations, although the state broadcasting organisation continues to control the allocation of frequencies and licensing.
Publications must be registered as a formality. Foreign media circulate freely and multichannel pay-TV is readily available. BBC World Service broadcasts are available on FM in Dakar.
