Barishal Bureau

A day-long high-level Deep Dive workshop on Digital Development was held in Barishal with the participation of civil society, senior officials working in NGOs, and Executive Chiefs on Saturday. This workshop was held to enable civil society organizations to formulate action strategies to integrate digital development issues with their ongoing activities by addressing the challenges existing in the digital development process. Coast Foundation is assisting in the organization.

Speed Trust is providing overall support as a supporting organization in organizing this workshop in the Barishal region. At the beginning of the program, AHM Shamsul Islam Dipu, Mission Head of Speed Trust, delivered a welcome speech. AHM Bazlur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of BNNRC, moderated the program.

The panel discussants who participated in each session were Anower Zahid, and Chairperson ICDA Bangladesh, Mirza Khaled, Sangkalpo Trust, Rahima Sultana Kajal, AVAS Barishal in the 1st session, Ziaul Ahsan, PGUS, Ananda Bala, YWCA Barishal, Rafiqul Islam Panna, PDF, Pirojpur, Mahfuj Islam, Sukhtara Mahila Sangstha were present in the 2nd session and in 3rd session, Edward Rabin Ballav, YWCA, Shuvankaor Chakraborty, Map, Afrin Jahan, Agnibina, Shahabuddin Panna, NSS they presented their opinions on the relevant issues. A total of 25 participants gave their views.

The four pillars of digital development were discussed, and the digital ecosystem and nine principles of digital development were touched upon. Misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech were concerns.

Then, digital localization was discussed. Digital transformation is now an increasingly integral part of the global communication system. In continuation, digital transformation in Bangladesh has brought about massive changes in the social, political, economic environment, and cultural governance system. Developed countries have achieved better societies, higher economic productivity, and exemplary performance in the government sector by using the benefits of digital transformation very quickly.

On the other hand, in countries like ours, the desired results are not being mainly seen due to the slow pace of digital transformation. As a result, a division is currently taking place around digital transformation worldwide. Civil society organizations worldwide are taking initiatives to integrate their activities with digital development. In Bangladesh, civil society organizations lag far behind in digital transformation. Digital development is a widely discussed topic in the digital transformation process. Digital transformation significantly contributes to development, democracy, and human rights.

There are four interrelated objectives of digital development. The objectives are digital transformation, digital inclusion, and digital responsibility: to ensure responsible behavior of all citizens to maintain a safe, secure digital environment. Ensuring the use of digital technologies with an eye on digital sustainability, climate change, and environmental issues.

Civil society organizations in Bangladesh face the following challenges in the digital transformation process - they are the participation of civil society organizations in national discussions and processes on digital transformation, and national and civil society organizations are not included in the digital transformation process.

As a result, the voice of civil society in the digital transformation process is limited. Lack of knowledge and skills on digital transformation, lack of knowledge and skills of civil society organizations on the digital transformation process and outcomes, absence of civil society organizations in international and regional forums, and the presence of civil society organizations in international and regional forums and processes are not visible. Digital development issues, not integrating digital development issues with the organization's activities. The United Kingdom and the United States have already published long-term strategies for digital development. The United Nations has also announced the Global Digital Compact.

The work of the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) is to develop the media on both knowledge-based and ongoing media issues, taking into account the challenges and opportunities of the rapidly changing reality of the media.

BNNRC works as Knowledge-Driven Media Development at regional, national, and international levels. It is a unique consultative organization that is part of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society and the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It is the United Nations WSIS Award 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023 winner and champion.