




































American International Journal of Social Science Research 

Vol. 7, No. 1; 2021 

ISSN 2576-103X   E-ISSN 2576-1048 

Published by CRIBFB, USA 

8 

 

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION 

TECHNOLOGY (ICT) TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY IN BANGLADESH 
 

 

Md. Shahnur Azad Chowdhury 

Associate Professor 

Department of Business Administration 

International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh  

E-mail: tipu_iiuc@yahoo.com 

  

Mustafa Manir Chowdhury 

Associate Professor 

Department of Business Administration 

International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh  

E-mail: mmanir7@yahoo.com 

 

Mrs. Nazneen Jahan Chowdhury 

Associate Professor 

Department of Business Administration 

International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh  

E-mail: nazneenchy@yahoo.com 

 

Mohammad Emdad Hossain 

Associate Professor 

Department of Business Administration 

International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh  

E-mail: mehapstat@gmail.com 

 

Sayed Md. Hashib Ahsan 

Assistant Professor  

Department of Business Administration 

International Islamic University Chittagong, Bangladesh  

E-mail: hasib27.ahsan@gmail.com 

 

 

ABSTRACT 

Poverty is one of the problems in third-world countries like Bangladesh. There has been an 

ongoing battle against challenging living conditions-overcrowding, floods, deforestation, erosion, 

soil depletion, and natural calamities. Quite a lot of programs have been tried since the 

independence of Bangladesh in 1971, and to tell the truth, most have failed. Each time an anti-

poverty program fails, it gives more fuel to the richer class to argue that there's no point in trying 

to help the poor. However, this is an age of information technology. Almost all of the spheres of 

human life are contributed by Information technology. Information Technology can change the 

fate of the poor by helping them to be with the current time and happenings by ensuring their 



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capabilities to access information. The Government of Bangladesh also realizes the importance of 

the issue, and recently they concentrated on transforming the government services to digitize. As 

one of the initiatives to empower the poor with information, GOB has launched Union Information 

and Service Centre (UISC) in all of the Union councils of the country. The private sector started 

digitization of operations earlier than the government. Now, as the government has also initiated 

the process, the journey will get a smooth and parallel speed to develop the socio-economic 

condition of the poor of the country.  This paper attempts to explore the capabilities of ICT to 

reduce poverty in Bangladesh. The study will also try to suggest how ICT can be better used to 

eradicate poverty. ICT is a rapidly growing field in Bangladesh in recent times. The contribution 

of ICT in every sector of the country is trying to be addressed to improve the situation. This study 

is conducted by reviewing the studies in this line to suggest better policies to be formulated. The 

results show that ICT has excellent capabilities to alleviate poverty despite many challenges to be 

faced. 

 

Keywords: ICT, Poverty, Alleviation, UISC. 

 

INTRODUCTION 

Bangladesh is a developing country with a population of about 180 million (Bangladesh Bureau 

of Statistics). Natural calamity is a common phenomenon in Bangladesh. Moreover, the level of 

education of its population is not up to the standard. So the standard of the life of the inhabitants 

is also not at a high level. Agriculture is the main source of income for most of the country's men. 

Readymade Garments are the main source of foreign currency, followed by the manpower 

exporting sector. Yet, poverty is a great problem in this country still now. The people of 

Bangladesh are to fight against a lot of issues. Notably, 30% of the country's men live below the 

poverty line (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics). Poverty is being reduced at a slow pace. Every 

government tried to reduce poverty by taking several programs after the independence of the 

country. Most of the programs taken for poverty alleviation failed due to proper planning and 

applicability. 

Additionally, corruption is another great reason for making the programs unsuccessful. However, 

this is an age of information and communication technology. ICT applications avail almost all 

spheres of human life. Developed countries are using ICT in various sectors to get benefits at an 

advanced level. ICT has multidimensional applications. Information Technology can play roles 

from the root to the advanced level to develop the economy and a nation. In Bangladesh, there are 

many scopes for ICT to contribute both at the root level and the advanced level. ICT has vast 

potential in this fast-developing economy of Bangladesh. There are many sectors to be addressed 

by ICT in the context of Bangladesh. 

 

Objectives of the Study 

 To find out the current situation of poverty in the country 

 To study about the capability of ICT in case of alleviating poverty 

 To suggest how ICT can be better used in reducing poverty 

 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

Several studies have been conducted regarding the roles of ICT in poverty alleviation. But it is still 

at the primary level. Bayes et al. (1999) showed how to promote the poor's economic development 

through Village Pay Phones (VPPs). Dymond and Oestmann (2002) offer a basic concept and real 



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base for discussing the role of ICTs in developing poor communities. Kenny et al. (2000) argue 

that recent econometric studies have found increasing evidence of a causal link between 

telecommunications development and economic development. In a study, Heeks (1999) suggests 

that ICTs play a role mainly in communications technologies rather than information-processing 

or production technologies. Bello and Aderbigbe (2014) highlighted some of the benefits the 

developing countries can derive from the use and adoption of ICT and some problems they 

encounter, and what the government of these developing countries can do to assist in the 

implementation of ICT. Anita Vitanen (2005) concluded that the role of ICT is catalytic in the 

complex task of poverty reduction by leveraging the effects on earnings opportunities, on 

educational and health services, on good governance, and on promoting democracy. Okello et al. 

(2014) discussed two objectives regarding the roles of ICT in poverty alleviation-the; the first 

objective was to study the application of ICT in economic growth, and the second was to 

investigate the role of ICT as a poverty reduction strategy. The paper clarified the debate on the 

role of ICT, and gave a framework for extending the discussion so that ICT may find its rightful 

place in development cooperation. Abiodun and Sunday (2013) suggested appropriate policies for 

the efficient use of ICT in reducing poverty and bridging the gap between the poor and the rich in 

Nigeria. Chowdhury et al. (2013) conducted a study on the role of ICT as an anti-corruption tool 

to prevent corruption from complying with Shariah rules. 

 

ICT CAPACITY TO REDUCE POVERTY 

 

ICT Capacity to Reduce poverty has been discussed below 

 

Through Creating Opportunities for the Poor 

 

a) Creating market for their products and providing market information: Bangladesh is an 

agricultural country. Most of the people of this country are involved in agriculture, varying from 

production to market. Farmers are the poor not because of their fate only. They are, in one sense, 

exploited due to the lacking of proper information about the demand of their product, Price, Market 

trends, information regarding good seeds, etc. Electronic commerce has created the opportunity 

for everybody to be with current business trends. Farmers or producers are also empowered with 

relevant information nowadays. They are no more bound to act according to the so-called 

intermediaries. Even though their products are not of that standard to be transacted online, their 

bargaining power is increased, which helps them to be saved from exploitation and get the proper 

prices with more alternatives. 

 

b) Developing the agro-based industry by getting relevant information: Innovation and 

research are common phenomena in the developed countries. New ideas regarding the 

development of hybrid crops and other agro-based products like poultry, dairy, fisheries are going 

home and abroad. In addition to this, there is information related to the modern way of cultivation 

and maintenance of every sector of agriculture. The village farmers can log into these creative 

ideas through the internet and have knowledge about this innovation to apply in their own farms. 

 

Through Empowering the Poor 

a) Communication and collaboration: Communication is the most powerful requirement for 

success in every sector nowadays. ICT has facilitated communication in such a way that the whole 



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globe has become a village. People of every level poor to reach have equal opportunities to be with 

the world with necessary information. 

 

b) Union information service centre: The government of Bangladesh has initiated the Union 

information service centers, which help the remote people be empowered by basic information. 

 

c) Education opportunity for the offspring of the poor of the village: Education is the 

precondition for alleviation of poverty and the development of a nation as well. Once, it was a 

dream and, in some cases, impossible for the poor to get their offspring educated. Now, it is not a 

problem to get their offspring educated in the country's highest institution as they can access all 

necessary information regarding their requirements of admission and study. 

 

d) Creating opportunities to find out various financial and other resources as (competitive 

Ones) to invest in potential fields to gain benefits: Financing any small or medium project is a 

challenge for the poor as they suffer from the proper source of finance at a lower cost. Most of the 

poor are bound in the hands of a limited number of NGOs for getting loans at high cost and 

consequently being exploited. The financial market and institution have expanded in such a 

volume that it has made the chance for the poor to choose to lend money competitively for 

investing. Moreover, ICT had empowered the borrower to find the financial market online, get 

information, and compare borrowing money. 

 

e) Health affairs of women and children: Poor people suffer a lot from the unconsciousness of 

health affairs. Most of the women and children among poor p are unhealthy. The sick population 

cannot contribute to the nation with a total capacity which is one of the causes for their worst 

condition and of the nation as well. Nevertheless, the internet availability and huge information 

regarding the development of consciousness among mass people has enabled the poor to maintain 

a healthy life. It has contributed to building up an energetic nation for building the whole nation. 

 

f) Getting online helps reduce cost and save time: One of the benefits of telecommunication is 

getting online service in most cases. Online service saves people from physical movement and 

thus saves money and energy to get the service. 

 

g) Automatic Land registration saves the poor from being deceived and losing their lands: 
This was a common problem that poor people were deceived by fraudulence in registering their 

lands. Often their land registration is not done transparently. There were kept some loops and holes 

to exploit them in the future. In some cases, the poor would have to lose their lands even. It has 

been checked and stopped by introducing automatic land registration.  

 

h) Forecasting natural calamity helps to take necessary action in advance: Natural calamities 

are very frequent and common in most of the coastal countries of Asia. Bangladesh is also not an 

exception. Natural calamities hamper the production of crops, damaged houses, and cause 

diseases. CT is deployed now to predict calamities, which will help the coastal people get the 

information of such type of disaster in advance and take precautions to minimize the harm. 

 

i) Ensuring their right by checking corruption: Corruption is one of the roots of poverty in 

underdeveloped countries. The mass people are bound in a sense in the hand of the public servant 



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to get their legitimate rights. Besides, it has become easier to exploit poor people in various public 

sectors because of the unavailability of automation. 

 

Here are some sectors mentioned where ICT can be used to control corruption in developing 

countries:  

 

a) Procurements: All sorts of public procurement must be completed electronically. It will help 

to minimize the chance of the public servant to transact speed money or bribe. Consequently, it 

will help to save the money of the poor public. This saved money can contribute to the national 

economy being healthy and reinvested for growth. 

 

b) Electronic Voting System: Election is a way to change the power of ruling the country. The 

poor can get the least scope to take part in making changes of government. Sometimes they are 

deprived of making their choice in a manual voting system as the system is politicized and 

controlled by the ruling party. The electronic voting system can eradicate this malpractice by 

ensuring the rights of the poor. Consequently, they can choose a government that will favor their 

development and takes the program to eradicate poverty in a true sense. 

 

c) Preparing Automatic Billing: All sorts of billing like electricity and others may be prepared 

by computer so that no man hand can manipulate the reading which minimizes the corruption. 

Thus the consumer can be saved from paying fraud bills. 

 

d) E-Ticketing system: E-Ticketing system can reduce the chance of selling transportation tickets 

like Train in the black market. It will help the poor get the ticket at a real price, which will help 

them frequently search for jobs or other services. 

 

e) Empowerments in manpower exporting: Preparing passport, checking the job status in case 

of going abroad and thus checking the fraudulence, going abroad under G2G arrangement by 

themselves without the help of a broker can save the poor from being deceived. 

 

f) Ensuring accountability in public services: CT can also assist people in monitoring and 

accountability of development programs in their locality. 

 

Through Training and Development 

a) Exporting Manpower: Ready Made Garment sector is the largest of all foreign currency 

earning sectors of the country. Bangladesh owns a significant number of populations as a resource 

gifted by the Almighty besides other natural resources. The second one is exporting Human 

resources abroad. Most of the people exported are unskilled laborers, which does not help to yield 

good returns. This resource can be trained up in ICT as other trades in the demand of developed 

countries to have a handsome foreign exchange from this human resource. 

 

b) Outsourcing: Providing third-party service through outsourcing in data entry: Information 

Technology itself has become a source of earning foreign currency by outsourcing which is 

considered one of the alternatives of RMG. In RMG, the unskilled labor is deployed with a lower 

payment, whereas outsourcing needs skilled manpower and gives better returns. The paradigm is 

being shifted from labor-intensive and lower payment to that of skilled and higher payment. 



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c) Innovating new ideas in production and service sectors: The country moves towards 

automation in all of its sectors. The manpower of the country is brilliant enough to innovate new 

ideas in developing new IT-based products and improving the quality of services by using IT, 

which helps them make more profit and reinvest in the farms, which creates more employment for 

the poor in all sectors. 

We can try to figure out some problems regarding the full-fledged implementation of ICT in 

Bangladesh:  

 ICT infrastructure: As Bangladesh is a developing country with a large population, it is 

quite challenging to establish the infrastructure in information and communication 

technology at massive scales to facilitate digitization as declared by the government. 

 Power: Power is a precondition for ICT to run. If even the infrastructure is ready, the 

country lacks the generation of power, and thus it is of no use. So the government and the 

private sector should come forward with the power plant to generate sufficient power to 

keep the nation online. 

 Level of education: The technical skill of the inhabitants of the country is not favorable 

for taking the benefits of ICT. So although there are opportunities for them to take 

advantage, they are still being exploited by the clever intermediaries. 

 To practice E-commerce in a country, Government offices, including tax, revenue, utilities, 

etc., have to be computerized and online accessible first. But, most offices are not interested 

in computerizing their system because the computerized system is an obstacle to corruption 

or they don't like the machine. 

 

CONCLUSION 
Despite a lot of problems, Bangladesh is making continuous development in every sector. The 

asset of the country is its hard-working human resource. The major problem is the lack of good 

governance to utilize the resource gifted by the Almighty. Information and communication system 

in Bangladesh has been launched but still a long way to get full speed. If the government takes 

initiatives to make their declaration of digitization a reality, it will help the percentage of poverty 

decrease by a considerable amount. 

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Bayes, A., Von Braun, J., & Akhter, R. (1999). Village pay phones and poverty reduction: Insights 

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Chowdhury, M.S. A., Khan, M. M., & Akter, S. (2013). Corruption in Islamic Perspective and 

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journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative 

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