6/8 Humayun Road, Block: B Mohammadpur, Dhaka-1207

Tel: 9131424, 8156772,01819-238258,,,,, Fax: www.dnet.org.bd

Email: ananya@dnet-bangladesh.org, Web: www.dnet.org.bd

D.Net (Development through Access to Network Resources) www.dnet-bangladesh.org is a not-for-profit action research organization envisaging mainstreaming information and communication technology (ICT) for poverty alleviation and economic development of Bangladesh. It is registered (Reg. No.-1918) under NGO Affairs Bureau, Bangladesh and the Societies Act XXI of 1860 with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, Bangladesh.

To establish Pallitottho kendro, a common access point for livelihood information for the rural community with emphasis on women, handicapped and other minority peoplefor accessing whole spectrum of livelihood information.

a. Create a mass movement of establishment of Pallitathya Kendra or telecentre will be emerged as a result of project intervention, which will facilitate launching of Mission 2011, under which every village will have access to Pallitathya Kendra or other type of telecentre by 2011, the 40th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence. b. The behavioral change of rural people will take place in search of livelihood information and a habit of information based decision making will be gradually developed in the intervention areas. c. Rural people will be able to improve their livelihood in three ways: i. Saving cost of livelihood: for example, a student can collect information about admission in university and college and get admit card with visiting all the universities located in various corner of the country. Such a facility may save BDT 3,000 – 30,000 depending on how many university that student tries. ii. Improve income: a farmer can raise production after receiving soil test result and based on that select crop and apply fertilizer. A village woman can start a new business, i.e., mushroom cultivation within home and sell it in the market after receiving know0how for the Pallitathya Kendra. iii. Reduce potential loss of property, life and rights: A poultry farmer saved his 3000 chickens using information about vaccination and applying it on the chickens. According him, without this information he could lose at least BDT 300,000. A father could find his kidnapped daughter in Noakhali after contacting Pallitathya Kendra, as D.Net’s network was used for searching her. Villagers in Nilphamari could get VGD, VGF cards after knowing the eligibility criteria and demanding them to the local chairman. d. The village database will allow the community to know about their village resources and plan integrated development. It can be a source of information for the government and other entities. e. The local content website will be a huge repository of local knowledge which will be disseminated through the network of Pallitathya Kendra. This will ensure bottom-up flow of information. f. The integration of Pallitathya Kendra with the core activities of many local organisations will improve quality of the core services and enhance acceptance of their activities within the community.