Analyzing the Effectiveness of Access to Information (a2i) Program in Promoting Women Empowerment in Selected Areas of Bangladesh: A Case Study of Shimulia Union Parishad and Muksudpur Union Parishad, Dhaka District

Abstract

Access to Information (a2i) is a Government led nationwide program with 4,547 Union Digital Centers (UDCs) at every Union with two (one female and one male) entrepreneurships. With the aim of investigating to what extent ‘a2i’ is effective in promoting women empowerment through women entrepreneurship, this paper analyzed primary data collected from Shimulia Union Parishad (UP) and Muksudpur UP, Dhaka, Bangladesh. This paper indicates that the socioeconomic barriers are causing a2i program to have a less profound impact on promoting women empowerment through women entrepreneurship. With different recommendations from program level and policy level, this paper proposes that the design, redesign, and implementation of the a2i program should have a flexible characteristic so that it can address the socioeconomic challenges from within the scope of the program.