To realize its vision, BIID adopts following key strategies :

BIID Agriculture Innovation Lab (B-Lab)

Service of B-Lab will be guaranteed from a dedicated professional team at back office in Dhaka along with 24/7 online service availability and BIID acts as a leading but also a facilitating organization. Youth segments age group within 18-39 are being targeted with special focus on students & women communities. BIID as mandated for ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology for Development), it fosters usage of ICT in all sphere of B-Lab activities and service delivery.

Conceptual Framework of B-Lab

Service Portfolio of B-Lab

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e-Krishok: Agricultural Information & Advisory and Market Linkage Services for Farmers

BIID's agricultural service is branded as e-Krishok, an initiative which is aimed at farmers with the desired goal of providing services from which farmers will benefit both in terms of their farming activities and opening up opportunities in new avenues which will ultimately translate into increased income for farmers.

Farmers with any problem or query or issue which is related to agriculture can go to nearby ICT enabled Information Center / Telecentres and receive the information that they are seeking.

The information usually provided to them in a timely and quick manner, so that the farmers can get on with their activities. With such timely and appropriate information, farmers will be able to maximize their economic gain; enabling them to achieve income growth through agricultural activities. e-Krishok is now in a process of transforming into a transactional service. BIID in collaboration with Grameen Phone (GP) introduced SMS/call back service via Short Code. For more details, please visit the ই-কৃষক site. Join us on Facebook.

The Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services

The Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services (INGENAES) strives “to increase agricultural production and the incomes of both men and women in rural areas who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.” INGENAES works with local partners to identify needs and opportunities for making improvements in their projects so that they can more effectively integrate nutrition-sensitive information and to achieve gender equality, improved household nutrition, and increased women incomes and, as a consequence, household food security.

Ultimately, these activities will not only facilitate agricultural extension systems’ ability to reach more rural women with the information they need but also improve the understanding of the nutrition and gendered consequences of choices made in agricultural production systems. INGENAES works with USAID missions, civil society organizations, farmer organizations, universities, and private sector service providers in Feed-The-Future countries. It also collaborates with agricultural extension, gender, and nutrition experts worldwide. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is the prime implementer of the project. The team also includes the University of California, Davis (UCD), the University of Florida, (UF) and Cultural Practice, LLC (CP). Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID) is the implementing partner of INGENAES in Bangladesh and it is being implemented in several other countries including Nepal,Senegal and Zambia. The INGENAES components in Bangladesh include:

- Landscape Study
- Joint DAE-INGENAES Action Learning
- Nutrition Club
- Food Plate Research
- Technology Assessment Research
- Implementation of GRAST
- Gender and Nutrition in Agricultural Extension Trainings

Besides a INGENAES Regional Symposium will be held in March 2017 to share the learning and findings of the project and engage multiple stakeholders for taking forward gender and nutrition integration within agricultural extension. To know more, please the extension website. Join us on Facebook.

Farmbook Business Planning Tool

BIID introduced ‘Farmbook Business Planning Tool’ in Bangladesh under its e-Krishok service basket in 2013. It’s a field based application developed by Catholic Relief Services (CSR) to understand the cost elements, technology, quality input support services and monitoring the profits that different types of farmers gain from using technologies and linking to markets.

It is a tool to enable field agents to help farmers plan their farm businesses more effectively and evaluate their productivity and profitability. Initially, BIID piloted the service in partnership with the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) to test the solution at field through its extension officers.The application was also implemented in Baira union of Manikganj district by BIID which serves as its innovation lab. During its later phases, Farmbook has been customized for local needs and has been transformed into the following two basic components:

Business Planning Canvas (BPC): It is a tool to help farmers to learn business planning through understanding of various components of business. Farmers can perform the exercise in groups or individually and learn about areas to consider while carrying out a business. BPC can be prepared for any kind of business such as crop, dairy or fishery. Farmers can develop the canvas in a group or develop them individually for their businesses.

Profitability Calculator (PC): This is a simple tool where through which farmers can calculate income and expenditure and measure the profitability of crops. A user can enter data on costs involved such as input, labour, irrigation for crops and calculate the estimated profit at the beginning of the crop season. With the progress of production stages, they can calculate the actual costs and the actual income. Thus they have comparative analysis of the estimated and actual profits. This will help them in identifying and planning for the crop which are more profitable during the following crop season.

The two components are available on mobile based iFormBuilder platform as well as on e-Krishok app. BIID is scaling up Farmbook through its various partners which include Oxfam, VSO and CRS. To learn more, please visit the site. Join us on Facebook.

Nutrition Club

Nutrition Club is a new concept has been introduced in Bangladesh by BIID to promote nutrition awareness among communities (both urban and rural) and engage youth volunteers to spread the nutrition messages all over the country. Academic institutes or organizations, who mandate to serve the country in nutrition domain as a social cause, they are our partner to accelerate this nutrition club initiative.

The primary objective of Nutrition Club is to provide a platform for volunteers for capacity building, knowledge dissemination and awareness building on nutrition. Nutrition Club is operating as a Franchisee network model under the supervision of BIID supported by INGENAES, USAID, where different educational institutions are operating the club activities independently but under a common mandate and goal. The Nutrition Club initiative is an approach to promote food based nutrition advocacy in Bangladesh. This approach provides an experiential learning and teaching opportunity for students in agricultural extension, nutrition and rural development. Nutrition Club is a platform for awareness building on nutrition, capacity building, and knowledge dissemination. BIID envisioned that the youth can be engaged in knowledge sharing, awareness building and catalyzing the learning process. Improving nutrition can have a significant impact on survival as well as physical and cognitive development and productivity. For more details, please visit the Nutrition Club site. Join us on Facebook.

Ground Cover App for Irrigation Scheduling

BIID is implementing the “Ground Cover App for Irrigation Scheduling” project with CIMMYT for developing a smartphone application to drive irrigation services of farmers of the southern delta of Bangladesh during the dry season.

The consortium members of the project is Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID), Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of University of Twente and Centro International de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (CIMMYT), funded by the Food & Business Applied Research Fund of The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

The objectives of the Project is developing a user friendly app which will enable farmers to capture RGB photos of their fields/crops with off-the-shelve smartphones. The photos will be analyzed using an algorithm to estimate the percentage of ground cover. This estimates will be transmitted and integrated into an irrigation advisory system, which will notify farmers about the water requirements and also inform them about available irrigation service providers. The project is anticipated to increase food production and, hence, improve food security. In the long run, it will be an integrated service for farmers, input suppliers and buyers. Click here to download the paper and Click to download the poster.

Development of Peer-to-Peer Business Networks in Southern Delta for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME)

Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID) is implementing “Business Network Firm to Support the Development of Peer-to-Peer Business Networks in Southern Delta” project under the Agricultural Value Chain (AVC) program of USAID as one of the partners of DAI.

The project aims at identifying possible solution and develop a business model to strengthen the SME’s with better understanding on professional business management practices by adopting peer-to-peer networking.

The poor performance of the SME’s in South Delta is mainly attributed to lack of practicing management process while running the business. SMEs mostly practice extracting cash from businesses instead of re-investing and improving HR capacity to perform better (increased volume and profit). The objectives of the project is to development of peer-to-peer learning and networking for SMEs (wholesaler/arothdars), development of a mentoring and capacity building methodology suitable for peer-to-peer networking type structure and finding of a potential model for commercialization of such service. BIID is implementing the project in two locations of southern area of Bangladesh which are Patuakhali Sadar under Patuakhali district and Muksudpur upazilla (sub district) under Gopalganj district. Join us on Facebook.

Zero Cost EAS Model

The “Zero Cost” Extension and Advisory Service (EAS) is a model developed by BIID under the e-Krishok service basket, designed to provide agriculture information and advisory to rural farmers. It is a sustainable ICT enable information delivery mechanism through which farmers can avail information and advisory free of cost, hence the name ‘zero cost’.

SME: Online Advisory Service.

BIID launched an integrated initiative in Bangladesh to facilitate the rapid growth of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with the help of ICT in addressing their problem and providing suitable solution to them. Developing the ICT-based platform to offer information and services for the rural enterprises will be an effective strategy to enhance the competitiveness of the rural MSMEs who have, among others, need for information on new markets, better business practices, and business promotion ideas where technology can become the catalyst to help the enterprises access the same.

Empowering through new market linkages and building capacity of the MSMEs will ultimately contribute to the growth and competitiveness in this sector. MSME portal will also be focusing on the access to finance issue as well as training facilities for the MSMEs'. For more details, please visit the SME web portal.

Nirvoya: Say No to Cyber bullying

1. Cyber VAWG Awareness Campaigns Campaigns are inarguably the most effective tool to educate the public on burning social issues and alter social consciousness within a short span of time. BIID plans to hold mass awareness campaigns to directly benefit at least 10,000 women and girls by disseminating awareness on the prevalence of cyber VAWG, encourage everyone large to possess ‘zero tolerance’ and take all the actions necessary to end cyber bullying and alert the victims and potential victims to the available resources to combat cyber violence.
2. Nirvoya Club and Volunteering Platform BIID envisages launching Nirvoya clubs in partnership with Department of ICT (DoICT) in educational institutes with Sheikh Russell Digital Labs (SRDLs). Our target is directly benefit 500 students and 100 teachers and parents per school via these clubs. Therefore at the end of the stipulated time, the direct and indirect beneficiaries of the Nirvoya clubs will amount to 250,000students and 50,000 teachers and parents respectively. The members of the clubs will at the helm for spreading awareness and educating their cohorts and acquaintances about the multiple aspects of cyber bullying and its prevention. Volunteerism is one of the most powerful tool to engage people of all ages in transforming their voices into action in tackling any social impediment. To foster volunteerism, BIID plans to launch a volunteering platform where any individual irrespective of their age, gender and profession can be a part of the movement against cyber violence against women and girls. We plan to recruit 50,000 volunteers from all over Bangladesh who will be an integral part of the Nirvoya network and serve to benefit their own communities through implementation of innovative ideas. Moreover, these volunteers will participate to support all the activities Nirvoya clubs and Nirvoya campaigns.
3. Nirvoya Digital Network In the era of hyper connectivity, social media web based platforms are widely used to create networks among diverse people from across the globe to stand up against or for a cause in unity. BIID has set a target to create a network of half a million women and girls on a social media/web based platform, preferably Facebook. This network will be overarching in terms of the reach and the diversity of the members of the network. Women and girls from any social and professional backgrounds can step out to share their own stories of survival and show their support for one another by extending advice, mentorship etc.

Target Reach BIID aims to reach out to and create a strong network of 1 million young girls (age group: 14-20) and adult women (age group: 21-45) by the end of the stipulated 5 years via Nirvoya campaigns, Nirvoya club & volunteering platform and Nirvoya Digital Network.

Expected Outcome The major expected outcomes of this project are as follows:
1. Raise awareness among generally people, and more particularly women and girls helping them to stay safe in the cyberspace and/or equipping them with the courage and tools to fight cyber bullying if they fall prey to crimes as such.
2. Create an enabling cyber environment for women and girls where they can actively participate and thrive over social media yet stay as safe as possible.
3. Provide guardians and authorities of education institutes a guide for identifying cyber bullying, supervision, helping their children in either effectively combating or containing such behave.
4. Raise awareness at the policy level among practitioners helping them to initiate interventions in the future to combat cyber VAWG.
5. Contribute in defining cyber bullying and guiding policy formulations for government.

Partners BIID will work in collaboration with government, development and private organizations to establish, promote and strengthen the national network, namely Nirvoya, to fight cyber violence against women and girls.

Intel® Easy Steps: A Digital Literacy Program

Intel Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BIID for deployment of the Intel® Easy Steps Program in Bangladesh. The Intel® Easy Steps program offers adult learners the opportunity for enhanced social and economic self sufficiency through digital literacy. The Intel Easy Steps materials use adult learning techniques to teach practical and applicable skills to people with minimum computer knowledge.

The Intel® Easy Steps program is being carried out by Intel in Asia to address the digital literacy needs of government employees, as well as adults in rural communities, women, unemployed youth, and other underserved populations. A government needs ICT-literate labor for a competitive workforce which would bring about a competitive economy. On the other hand participants have an opportunity to improve skills thus enhancing their employment prospects. The program includes instructions on running Internet searches, using email, using word processors for creating resumes and other documents, creating spreadsheets, and using multimedia tools to create brochures and posters to promote small businesses. Thus the trainees can develop literacy skills and immediately start applying them into their personal or professional lives. BIID will facilitate value added services for the trainees to end up with a job opportunity or get self employed with support from relevant stakeholders.

PANI-Program for Advanced Numerical Irrigation

PANI is a smart solution for the irrigation system using GIS mapping and image processing of the ground
Ground Cover: Take field images and get instantly results by image processing
Geolocating the field: Instantly track your map from the mobile application with just simple clicks around the edge of your field
Free to Use: As always, this application is free to download and use for the irrigation purpose!
Linkage: Connect with the local service providers instantly !

Image courtesy BIID.

Mojai Mojai Pushti Shekha

Mojai Mojai Pushti Shekha is a android based mobile game which helps the user to learn about nutritional foods while playing the game
Full Bangla Mobile Game: The whole game is developed in Native Bangla language for a better UX
Five Different Stages: The game has five different stages with different set of tasks
Free to Use: As always, this application is free to download and use for the entertainment and lesson learning
Easy to play: The game is designed in a way so that with just one single hand user can interact and can be suited for any type of user

Image courtesy BIID.

e-Krishok

BIID developed this application for the farmers and small entrepreneurs as a business planning solution for agriculture. With this application farmers and small entrepreneurs can easily calculate the profitability and store new business plan. Moreover tips and brief information on agriculture and business development are also available in this application.
Full Bangla Mobile App: The whole app is developed in Native Bangla language for a better UX
Business canvas: The app has business canvas model to help user to make their own model
Profitability calculator: Farmers and small entrepreneurs can easily calculate the profitability
Easy to use: The app is designed in a way so that with just one single hand user can interact and can be suited for any type of user

Image courtesy BIID.

মিতা, মিলন এবং পুষ্টি গুরুর গল্প (A nutrition based animation)