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D.Net (Development Research Network) is a non-profit organization, which envisages to use information and communication technology (ICT) for economic development of Bangladesh.  Incepted in January 2001, D.Net obtained legal status under the Societies Act 1860 with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, Bangladesh. Working with interfaces of all development use, D.Net thrives to build up itself as a multi-disciplinary organization.

Vision

A society where information and knowledge play its designated role of facilitation in participation of all stakeholders for generation of wealth and its equitable distribution for poverty alleviation.

Mission

To become a premier organization in Bangladesh and beyond through undertaking research and various programs in the areas, where information and knowledge can contribute to poverty alleviation, economic growth and peace.

Goals

• Knowledge generation and sharing for broader constituency.

• Thriving to play a visible role in ICT and development policy.

• Sharing Best practices in South Asia and beyond.

Objectives

• To work for development of the ICT network through out Bangladesh.

• To disseminate knowledge among the poor and SMEs of Bangladesh for using ICT to participate actively.

• To work for using ICT for agriculture, health, education, legal right, awareness building and capacity building for development.

• To organize different activities to develop resource pool which can be shared over the Internet and other ICTs.

• To conduct action and policy oriented research on ICT for development mainly in the context of Bangladesh.

• To function as an agency for undertaking and promoting study, research and dissemination of knowledge in development economicsand others related fields to planning for national development and poverty alleviation through use of ICTs.

• To provide information and offer advice on modern research techniques and methodology in economics and other social sciences.

1. About 30,000 page Bangla livelihood content development and dissemination in rural Bangladesh.
2. Trained about 100 infomediaries to disseminate livelihood information.
3. Developed and maintaining 3 Bangla Websites

• BORN (Bangladesh Online Research Network) : BDResearch.org - country's first website of its kind - is an online knowledge center containing huge research information on Bangladesh and many other offerings to facilitate research activity. It is actually the official website of BORN (Bangladesh Online Research Network) - a program initiated by D.Net -Development Research Network.

• Gunijan - Building a Proud Heritage : What are we leaving as inheritance for our new generation? This is an eternal question at all the turning points of our history. As a nation we need sources of inspiration, which are those people who serve our motherland with their creative mind and devotion to ideals of peace, humanity and social justice. The "Gunijan" initiative is for presenting through the Internet the best products of our soil, who inspire us through their writings, words, scientific and artistic works and other creative pursuits. We hope that the universally accessible information on our best people will inspire the new generations to show their best as patriots of our motherland.

• Pallitathya - Sustainable Rural Livelihood Information Network : With the advent of information and communication technology (ICT) revolution, there have been numerous initiatives across the globe to use these technologies for poverty alleviation and holistic socio-economic development. While there have been isolated stories of innovative efforts, a sustainable model for cost-effective use of ICTs in a rural environment is yet to emerge. One major problem in earlier efforts is that they have mostly not dealt with all major components of such a model – some have emphasized too much on establishing a “telecenter”, but not enough on the “infomediary” (i.e. the person who works as an interface between an ICT tool and rural end-users), while some other efforts have focused too much on issues of connectivity, but not enough on understanding service requirements at the rural level and developing livelihood contents suitable for an environment, where many of the end-users are not very educated.

• Empowering People through Improved Access to Information on Governance and Human Rights : The access to information on governance and human rights issues by the rural poor has several dimensions: lack of awareness about their rights, lack of awareness related to the role and obligations of government institutions functioning at grass-root level, lack of availability of information related to legal support, inadequate legal references for legal aid, among others.
  
  The Abolombon is designed to improve access to legal information on governance and human rights issues for rural people using various ICT-based channels. The scope of governance in this project is limited within the “local governance” only.

• Helpline - Bringing Knowledge and Information for the Poor A Call Away : Pallitathya Help-line is another project under Pallitathya Programme, which provides villagers a set of mobile phone numbers to make a specific query on any livelihood matters or to send some urgent information to D.Net for further action. The call is answered by a specialist at the ‘help-desk’ located at D.Net’s headquarter. At present D.Net provides ‘help-line’ services in four villages of Nilphamari, Bagerhat, Netrokona and Noakahli districts. There are four bare-foot women mobile-phone operators who work as infomediary.

• CLP- Computer Literacy Program for Underprivileged Youth : The prime motto of the programme is to bridge digital divide among urban and rural children and youth in terms of computer skills. To build a knowledge society, as announced in the national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy of Bangladesh, the country needs its young generation to be educated and acquainted with the state of the art knowledge of ICT. Bangladesh is trying to catch up, with the assistance of many government and private initiatives to make ICT work for disadvantaged people of the country. In developing a base for skilled ICT professionals, Children and youth in rural areas rarely get a chance to learn the use of computers and other ICTs, and thus do not know how this modern technology can be utilized to benefit their rural livelihood and future career. The “Computer Literacy Program” (CLP) intended to facilitate ace to knowledge of ICTs be the rural disadvantaged people, particularly children and youth. More

• ICT for Human Resource Development (ICT4HRD) : Under ICT for Human Resource Development (ICT4HRD) program, D.Net conduct training and other human resource development program for different stakeholders. D.Net has conducted a course on "e-Government and e-Commerce" for government officials. Besides D.Net is running "Computer Literacy Program" to increase computer literacy among under-privileged youth of rural Bangladesh.

• Research and Development : Under Research and Development program D.Net conduct different research and consultancy work for promotion of different sectors. D.Net has conducted research for government, non-government organization, private sector, donor agencies etc. Details of the D.Net's contribution under this program can be found under publication button.

• Identify researchers for developing training modules on content development and infomediary
• Define specific components needed for providing training
• Develop first draft of training modules
• Hold workshop with expert groups for consultation
• Prepare final draft manual for conducting training
• Use the manual in a training
• Incorporate lessons learnt from the training
• Produce first version of training manual
• Incorporate lessons learnt from refreshers training
• Develop final manual for training
• Develop local language content

• Dr. Ananya Raihan is the Head of D.Net. His area of interest includes ICT and Development, Trade Policy Analysis and SME Development.

• Md. Masum Billah, Project Coordinator

• Majedur Rashid Jony, Project Support Executive

• Masudur Rahman, Researcher

• Forhad Uddin, Researcher

• Shahina Pervin, Researcher

• Fatema Begum Labony, Proof Reader

• Shuvo Ahmed, Word Processor