Salma had been married for three years. She was expecting her first child. Life was tough in remote Babuganj, yet she and her husband were trying to get by, excited about their newborn.

But tragedy struck. Her husband’s death in a road accident deprived him of seeing his yet-to-be-born daughter. It left Salma widowed. Their daughter would be born fatherless.

The government of Bangladesh offered an allowance to women like Salma. Yet, they may as well have offered nothing.

Just to collect her rightful due, she needed to make multiple visits to the government office in a different town altogether. If she made it, she was greeted with long lines, multiple forms, and no guarantees about receiving her money.

It wasn’t worth it. She simply didn’t have the money or time needed, ironically, to receive her own money.

Today, she doesn’t have to travel to a different town to collect her allowance. She can just walk to the office. It isn’t a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a simple, efficient, straightforward process – how any service delivery should be. 

Similar to Salma, the fate of many others attempting to receive a public service changed when the Digital Centers were launched in November 2010. Since then, over 8,000 of these centers have been established, functioning as a one-stop solution for over 300 public and private service delivery.