Expert Speak Digital Frontiers
Published on Oct 09, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic was a new threat that demanded fast decision-making, innovations, flexibility, and a new way of “doing” government.
Repurposing innovations: Learning from Bangladesh’s rapid response to the pandemic

Bangladesh was not supposed to fare well against COVID-19. In fact, it was supposed to, in theory, fail miserably with millions infected and hundreds of thousands dead by September. The most densely populated country in the world. A weak tertiary healthcare infrastructure — no match for the once-in-a-century pandemic. Millions in poverty. When the most developed economies were struggling, what chance did Bangladesh have?

Bangladesh — however, has its strengths. First, its tremendous resilience. Bangladesh has dealt with incredible odds and has overcome them. Its very inception fifty years ago is proof of that. The proof is re-demonstrated every year by growing at 8% despite catastrophic floods and cyclones chipping away some of the economic gains. Second, the relentless focus on human development indicators such as women’s empowerment through microfinance, cutting down the maternal mortality rate by 70% and child mortality by 80% in 30 years, and halving poverty in 20 years. Third, the citizen-centric building blocks of societal and policy innovations, something the government and non-state actors built and instilled methodically and systematically over the last decade.

Bangladesh — however, has its strengths. First, its tremendous resilience.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a new threat that demanded fast decision-making, innovations, flexibility, and a new way of “doing” government. Above all else, it required, more than ever before, listening to the citizens, to understand what they required during this crisis for both life and livelihood; government and private sector working together in an unprecedented way; and repurposing existing foundational building blocks to create new solutions in a matter of days. Above all, it required even a more accelerated shift in the bureaucratic mindset of the government to serve the citizens.

All these reasons led to the transformation of the national information hotline 333. It was already useful as a platform for citizens, particularly those in less developed, rural areas. People could just dial 333 to receive critical information regarding public services and also inform the government to take immediate action to address social ills like child marriage. The phone number 333 was repurposed first into a platform for self-reporting COVID-19 symptoms; then again as a platform enabling telemedicine services, which functioned as an Uber Pool-like system with close to 4,000 doctors; then again to identify the beneficiaries for urgent food relief; and then to shape p-commerce, which is e-commerce over phone; and finally as a means to deliver audio lessons to primary and secondary school students — all of this free of charge. To date, over 10 million calls have come in, with crucial data generated to fight the virus.

What was once a TV station that was largely under-utilised by airing parliament sessions every few months transformed into delivering thousands of daily lessons — a transformation that took six days.

Repurposing was the reason why when the pandemic threatened to end all forms of education for 50 million students in the country, there was immediate response. While plenty of internet-based solutions existed, reliable internet for education purposes was only available to a fraction of students in the country, which meant that the large majority would be deprived. This was when the idea of repurposing Parliament TV came. What was once a TV station that was largely under-utilised by airing parliament sessions every few months transformed into delivering thousands of daily lessons — a transformation that took six days.

The pandemic saw courts being shut, resulting in bail cases piling up, further crowding already overcrowded prisons with many lives endangered as a result. With the setting up of virtual courts, it helped keep people out of prisons, and ultimately save lives.

The pandemic also saw millions of people falling back into poverty and extreme poverty, as their livelihoods were taken away. This is where a previous technology infrastructure for citizens to receive social welfare payments, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, acted as the underpinning upon which 5 million people, who were never previously identified as poor, were included in this new corona-induced social safety net programme.

With the setting up of virtual courts, it helped keep people out of prisons, and ultimately save lives.

In the midst of these achievements, what has been more invaluable, for now and the future, are the lessons that were learned along the way:

It takes a crisis to break the status quo

At a time when the projections showed that thousands of people would die daily if immediate action was not taken, there was no time to wait for bureaucratic procedures to govern decision making. Lives were at stake, and every delayed decision could mean thousands lost. Nothing was more important than speed.

This sense of urgency was what made it possible for decision-making to reach unprecedented levels of efficiency. The 333 national hotline was made “corona-ready” in a week. Thousands of doctors were getting trained to fight the coronavirus virtually, once again, in a matter of days and not months. The social safety net expansion to the millions of new poor was executed in a matter of days.

Lives were at stake, and every delayed decision could mean thousands lost. Nothing was more important than speed.

Alliances were formed, often under extraordinary circumstances. An example, that can only be termed as “WhatsApp Bureaucracy,” consisted of a Whatsapp group with the the Minister of Telecommunications, the CEOs of the four mobile phone companies in the country, and the chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. There were no protocols, egos, or arduous procedures. This was collaboration at its rawest, with discussions and decisions taking place at an unprecedented pace.

Repurposing is innovation 

Despite the importance of speed, it would not have been possible to make decisions without having the enabling innovation building blocks — both technological and human — in place. Integrating and repurposing existing assets, and utilising the skills gathered in being comfortable with these assets, made it far easier to bring speed into decision making.

It was what made 333 such a vital resource, with 60% of Bangladesh using feature phones. The rationale to repurpose Parliament TV to deliver education lessons was that most of the country did not have affordable high-speed internet connections. This is why the AIM (Account, Identity, Mobility) architecture for digital government payments and the Central Bank’s eKYC regulations were repurposed to expand the social safety net for millions of the newly poor in a little over a week.

It would not have been possible to make decisions without having the enabling innovation building blocks — both technological and human — in place.

In the above scenarios, the pre-existence of 333, Parliament TV, and digital payments architecture built on top of other Digital Bangladesh building blocks allowed them to be repurposed and made “corona-ready.” Furthermore, it was important to innovate while keeping in mind the existing digital access of the underserved, and not the one open to only the elite; innovations do not make sense without them benefitting the maximum number of people, particularly during a pandemic.

Putting people first

A citizen-centric approach will pay dividends. This means listening to the people and acknowledging their immediate needs. During the pandemic, citizen-centric explorations at the core of operations have led to improvements in existing services and platforms, enabling the delivery of the very best public services to the masses.

The various iterations 333 went through is a profound example of the need to be humble, listen to the customers and respond accordingly. Callers were not happy with just reporting COVID-19 symptoms to enable the government to track disease progression, they also wanted doctor consultations over the phone. That’s when 333 evolved into the country’s largest telemedicine service with 4,000 doctors providing services pro bono.

A citizen-centric approach will pay dividends. This means listening to the people and acknowledging their immediate needs.

Not versus but and

Lockdowns were the standard approach employed by all governments around the world to best combat COVID-19. However, for a poor, densely populated country such as Bangladesh, this was not an easy decision to make. With nearly 90% of the people in Bangladesh employed in the informal sector, together with industries and manufacturing closed down, this economic shutdown had an extremely adverse impact on the livelihoods of millions of Bangladeshis.

This tradeoff between life vs livelihood, the short-term and long-term implications, and the communication that was to be put out, was a lesson unlike others, for it reminded the country that for the poor, an unknown virus which could potentially kill them meant little when they were in immediate danger of starving to death. Above all else, it required empathy, to once again recognise the plight of the poor and the bold leadership by the government to act on its conviction.

As such, the innovations deliberately embraced this balance between life and livelihood.

Connecting the dots

No country could have prepared for COVID-19. However, it was important to have in place a culture of encouraging innovation, of problem solving, of being empathetic, of ensuring that public service delivery was as simple and as efficient as possible.

Digital Bangladesh has always been about being inclusive, of being citizen centric. As public services transform, so should the people — no one should be left behind.

This is where the concept of a2i is significant. Bangladeshi leaders had the foresight to initiate the Digital Bangladesh manifesto back in 2008. a2i emerged as the government’s flagship digital transformation initiative - in ICT Ministry, Cabinet Division supported by UNDP - working across all ministries and up and down the hierarchy of governance from the Prime Minister’s Office to the lowest form of local government institutions. Over the years, it has become an institution for innovation, and is poised to be formally established as Bangladesh’s national innovation agency. Digital Bangladesh has always been about being inclusive, of being citizen centric. As public services transform, so should the people — no one should be left behind.https://a2i.gov.bd/

Vision 2041: Building forward better

Bangladesh has recently entered the ranks of middle-income nations, a few years ahead of its target of 2021, the 50th anniversary of the country’s birth. The country aspires to become a developed nation by 2041 by leveraging the citizen-centric innovations it is institutionalising in its public and private organisations. A deep empathy for its people steeped in the thousand-year heritage of the region, a sincere approach to learning from the expected and unexpected crises, a continuous sense of urgency to leapfrog, and a humble outlook to repurpose for building new innovations to solve society’s biggest problems are the hallmarks of achievements that will propel Bangladesh on its journey to 2041.

Bangladesh has been at the forefront of innovating equitable development models for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and developing nations. Lessons from the pandemic may add a few more to that list for the world to consider while it tries to balance between life and livelihood.

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