He came up with the comments while addressing a workshop titled ‘Innovations in Public Service Delivery’ held at the BRAC Centre Inn in the capital.

The workshop was organised by the Copenhagen Consensus Center and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD). It discussed the key challenges of upscaling the above four initiatives and the way forward. 

The minister also said the government is committed to improve the capacity of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) for generating more useful data.

He appreciated the research done by BIGD.

Speaking on the occasion as a special guest, Nahim Razzaq, MP, underlined the importance of citizen’s engagement in monitoring the quality of public work so the government can take it seriously. “This will increase the effectiveness of e-procurement.” 

He also agreed that e-Government Procurement can be linked with taxation for better tracking of income. 

Former Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman pointed out that the country has two important dividends: 80 million young population and density dividend that make many service and infrastructure scalable. 

He also said the digital culture will be crucial in maximising the dividends as it directly connects public service providers with citizens. “It provides them with a mechanism for providing direct feedback.”

Executive Director of Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) Rasheda K Choudhury, Project Director of a2i Md Mustafizur Rahman, Senior Procurement Specialist of World Bank Ishtiaque Siddique, Sarder M Assaduzzaman of UNDP spoke on the occasion with BIGD Executive Director Dr Imran Matin in the chair.

Scaling up electronic government procurement and electronic land mutation, strengthening the Union Digital Centres and the Village Court system are some high-impact initiatives as identified in the workshop.