Intel Chairman Launches World Ahead Program in Bangladesh to Extend Digital Inclusion to Millions

Intel Chairman Launches World Ahead Program in Bangladesh to Extend Digital Inclusion to Millions

Marking his first visit to Bangladesh, Intel Corporation Chairman Craig Barrett announced one of the most comprehensive deployments to date of the Intel World Ahead Program, a global effort to provide people in developing countries with the benefits of better, faster access to information and communications technology (ICT).

The country-wide implementation of the World Ahead Program is also being launched in collaboration with the government of Bangladesh and includes education initiatives.

Program elements will be driven largely through a new agreement being forged between Intel and Grameen Solutions, a company founded by Muhammad Yunus to promote economic and social development through ICT and to create affordable technology solutions for ordinary people. Under the terms of the agreement, Intel and Grameen will jointly promote and support digital inclusion projects across Bangladesh to improve education, connectivity and access to technology and localized Internet content and software applications.

“By working together, Grameen and Intel can help Bangladesh make rapid progress in providing its citizens with opportunities for economic and social advancement,” said Barrett, who also chairs the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development. “As Professor Yunus has so eloquently stated in the past, these programs are not about giving handouts, but a hand up.”

“All human beings have enormous potential inherent in them,” said Yunus, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Grameen Bank in 2006. “The problem is that poor people do not get the opportunity to ever discover their own potential because of the social and economic barriers built around them. I firmly believe that information and communication technology can play a dramatic role in the fight against rural poverty.

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