Abstract

This paper presents the impact of UISC (Union Information and Service Center) in Bangladesh, which is representing one of the developing countries in the world. The descriptive study investigates how UISC was established to setup ICT infrastructure in all 4,501 Union Parishads (UP, last tier of local government of Bangladesh), contributes to the knowledge based economy in Bangladesh. All the functions and processes of UISC, including background, rationale, target, outcome, methodology, implementation strategy, social impact, way of increasing income etc. have been analyzed through the assistance of different stakeholders of UISC in the form of interview, data collection and desk work through reviewing documents and analysis by a statistical tool.

UISC provides different services to the rural areas through knowledge enhancement for both entrepreneurs and end customers in order to achieve benefits and plays role to make knowledge based society as well as contribute to the economic growth. Data collection and direct or indirect contact to the stakeholders’ represents that UISC has been moving ahead as per its policy guidelines i.e. ICT infrastructure establishment, entrepreneurs build up and make available maximum level of services as per need to the rural people. This case study encompasses how UISC contributes to enrich knowledge based economy in Bangladesh.