For whom it matters? : Theory of youth development and Information & Communication Technologies And voices of rural youth in Bangladesh

The growing number of today’s youth worldwide, and proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have been the subject of development discourses in recent years. Much of the debate has revolved on how the diffusion of technologies would best serve the development of a society. Recognizing youths’ inclination to engage in the use of new technological devices such as internet or mobile phones, it has pushed development agencies to bring ICTs to deprived areas of the world in an effort to incorporate young people into its development agendas. In some cases however, development strategies by donor agencies do not coincide with young people’s expectations, especially in rural settings where bulk of the donor funding is funnelled. Failing to capture young people’s own perspective in the specific context may cause serious mismatch with conceptualization of youth and ICT put forward by the international agencies. Based on case study of an NGO in rural Bangladesh, this research tries to bring in the voices of young people. The lives of youth in a rural setting still governed by traditional norms and values, with regard to ICTs as well as other spheres of everyday lives then, have uncovered certain changes that youths seem to be going through in remote areas of Bangladesh today. It is an entry point to rethink youth development, and lived experiences of young people in rural Bangladesh.