With the aim of delivering various government services to the doorsteps of the people, Nagorik Sheba Bangladesh has started its journey online with the slogan ‘All Citizen Services at One Address’.
On Monday (26 May 2025), the pilot project of this program was inaugurated by Principal Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna.
Trained citizen service entrepreneurs will provide these services to the general citizens from the citizen service centers.
Under the pilot project, citizen service centers have been set up in Gulshan, Uttara and Nilkhet areas of the capital. Among them, the centers in Gulshan and Uttara have already started their operations and the Nilkhet center will also start its operations within a short period of time.
Inaugurating this service, which was initiated by the Office of the Chief Advisor and developed under the supervision of the ICT Department of the government, the Chief Advisor said, “This initiative will play a groundbreaking role in reducing the violence of brokers, preventing various harassments, and ensuring hassle-free citizen services.”
Similarly, he directed the ICT Department to take initiatives to establish an expatriate service center to ensure easy accessibility of services and to deliver all the necessary services at one address.
He emphasized on the need to update and coordinate the service regularly to create positive competition among all the ministries of the government in providing services under this service.
He said, “Our goal is to create positive competition among the ministries in providing services. Our effort is to bring as many services as possible from each ministry under this as soon as possible.”
At this time, Professor Yunus, referring to various citizen services, said, “We must establish such a system so that children get birth registration certificates as soon as they are born. This should be their civic recognition.”
Regarding the management and ownership of the Citizen Service Center, he said that entrepreneurs will pay rent by signing an agreement with the owners of the space. In the initial stage, the rent will be fixed at a reduced rate. Entrepreneurs will take responsibility for security, maintenance and utilities. Failure to maintain service standards may result in cancellation of the license.
He said, “Citizen Service Bangladesh is not just a service delivery platform, it is a movement to build bridges between the government and the people—based on technology and driven by local entrepreneurs. This inclusive, sustainable and expansive initiative will be able to bring about an attractive transformation of citizen services across the country.”
Special Assistant to the Principal Advisor on behalf of the ICT Department, Faiz Ahmed Tayyab, said that by implementing this project on a zero budget, it has been proven that it is possible to move forward by utilizing the country’s existing resources.
He said, “Through this initiative titled ‘Citizen Service Bangladesh’, unused government facilities including post offices will be converted into modern co-working spaces and they will be run by local entrepreneurs.
He said, at these citizen service centers located within walking distance for citizens, trained local entrepreneurs will provide various government digital services including national identity cards, passports, tax filings.
This model will not only make government services accessible to citizens, but will also create opportunities for the country’s youth and women to become economically self-reliant, Faiz Tayyab said, “Inspired by the principles of social business and run on the basis of public-private partnership, this initiative will be a reflection of inclusive development and citizen empowerment.”
He said that the aim of this service is to build a national network that will ensure effective and accessible digital services for citizens and at the same time contribute to social and economic progress by empowering local entrepreneurs.
He said that in the first phase, 200 female and male participants were selected through a rigorous selection process from among the applicants to become entrepreneurs of the Citizen Service Center. After intensive training in digital literacy, customer service and digital service delivery, 100 entrepreneurs (50 female and 50 male) were awarded certificates.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Election Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, Land Ministry Secretary ASM Saleh Ahmed, Information and Communication Technology Division Secretary Sheesh Haider Chowdhury, Local Government Division Secretary Md. Rezaul Maksud Zahedi, Inspector General of Police Baharul Alam, Immigration and Passport Directorate Director General Major General Md. Nurul Anwar, Registrar General Md. Zahid Hossain and National Identity Card Division Director General ASM Humayun Kabir.
