ICT for Poverty Alleviation: A Study on Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is now one of the world leaders in using telecommunication (mainly phone) for poverty alleviation. Village Pay Phone (VPP) Program - an NGO led initiative has been hailed as one of the first program to use telephone for poverty alleviation (2003). The success of this program led to low-income entrepreneur both in rural and urban areas of Bangladesh to take similar kind of initiative. Studies on VPP program show it can reduce poverty in rural areas. This paper focuses on the performance of the enterprises, which are not in VPP program. We conclude that these initiatives are equally effective in alleviating poverty