CitizenConnect: Connecting Citizens with Public Service Providers

The world has seen tremendous growth in the field of mobile communication over the last two decades. In Bangladesh, the penetration of cell phones is around eighty percent, ninety-seven percent of households have access to it. Utilization of the information and communication technology can be an effective means to provide customer services for any organization. The purpose of this paper is to present and demonstrate the idea of an efficient way of connecting citizens with service providers, especially in the public sector of Bangladesh using all available communication media. The Waste Management Department of Dhaka North City Corporation is the focus of the project implementation. Inspired by Open311 initiative, this project tries to bring more public interaction utilizing already available telecommunication networks, current smartphone technology trend and rapid growth in the Internet usage. It covers all the main communication media to ensure maximum participation from ordinary citizen. Any service providing authority can get real-time information from the public, act on them, resulting in an increase in trust and confidence between people and service provider.