Limping into the Information Age: Challenges of e-Government in Bangladesh

As e-government promises a wide variety of benefits including enhanced efficiency, transparency, access and participation, it enjoys growing popularity with governments in both developed and developing countries. However, despite such popularity and appeal, the implementation of e-government has often proved to be a slow and difficult task, for among its requirements are transformation of institutional structures and procedures and mobilization of significant financial, human and technical resources. This is particularly the case in poorer countries where a range of complex problems stand in the way. This paper illustrates the case with special reference to the situation in Bangladesh. It describes Bangladesh's journey to e-government and shows that although e-government is high on the governmental agenda, progress in this regard is limited and hampered further by numerous constraints and challenges, ranging from inadequate finance and IT infrastructure to lack of skills and competencies, from digital divide to poverty and illiteracy. The paper argues that unless innovative solutions to such challenges are found, the vision of digital Bangladesh is unlikely to be realized.