The Media development-related initiative of Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) has been recognized for 4th time as Champions in UN World Summit on the Information Society (UN WSIS) Prizes 2020. The Champions prize will be distributed by ITU Secretary-General during 6- 9 April 2020 at a ceremony in Geneva International Conference Centre, Switzerland as part of the annual UN WSIS Forum 2020. Out of 352 nominated ICT success stories from around the world, following a comprehensive review by the Expert Group of 776 projects submitted by the WSIS Stakeholders’ community, WSIS Expert Group have reviewed more than 2 million votes.
UN WSIS Prizes honour outstanding projects that leverage the power of information and communication technology (ICT) to accelerate socio-economic development. Besides the highlighted relevance of the project to the respective WSIS Action Line as referenced in the Geneva and Tunis Plan of Action, the selection process was based on the project’s impact on the community and linkages with the Sustainable Development. Since its inception, the contest of WSIS Prizes has attracted more than 300,000 stakeholders.
WSIS Prizes has been recognizing remarkable efforts made by entities and organizations from around the globe that focus on accelerating the socio-economic progress of the whole world as a community. The champion project is Digital Safety and Security for the Journalists in Bangladesh.
https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/stocktaking/Prizes/2020/Champions?jts=HH135J&id=10&page=16#start
The goal of the project was aiming to provide an overall idea about the use of information and communication technology (ICT) Digital Safety and Security for the Journalists in Bangladesh in carrying out the professional duties of journalists working at the district level of Bangladesh.
It would be mentioned that BNNRC first won the WSIS Award in 2016 as the winner and champion of 2017, 2019. BNNRC has been chosen for this award on account of its creative thinking, critical analysis, strong media development leadership and exceptional innovation of community and media sector contributing towards voices of the voiceless people in rural Bangladesh. BNNRC is in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) accredited with World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) SDGs Media Compact of the United Nations and UN WSIS prize winner 2016, Champion 2017 & 2019.
BNNRC’s approach to media development is both knowledge-driven and context-sensitive, and it takes into account the challenges and opportunities created by the rapidly changing media environment in Bangladesh including community radio development giving voices for the voiceless in line with shaping the Future of Media, Information & Entertainment in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution(4th IR) in Bangladesh.
Finally, we will be failing in our duties if we do not put on record our deep appreciation of BNNRC development partners for their continuous support to the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) for giving voice to the rural voiceless people in Bangladesh.
With best regards, AHM. Bazlur Rahman-S21BR | Chief Executive Officer,
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC)
