Sajeeb Wazed Joy to receive ICT for Development Award in New York

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy, who spearheads the ‘Digital Bangladesh’ campaign as a voluntary advisor to his mother, will receive an award in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 17 Sept 2016, 09:22 AM
Updated : 17 Sept 2016, 09:50 AM

A group of organisations and business school will confer him with the ‘ICT for Development Award’ on Monday for his contribution to the ‘Digital Bangladesh’ initiative, the ruling Awami League says in its website.

The World Organisation of Governance & Competitiveness, Plan Trifinio, Global Fashion for Development, and School of Business of University of New Haven, Connecticut would also recognise his “outstanding leadership and commitment towards ICT and Competitiveness as a tool for sustainable development” with the award.

This would be the first ever award to be given by the organisers to anybody.

Actor Robert Davi will hand over the award at a high-level reception at One UN Plaza Millennium Hotel’s conference room in support of the first anniversary of the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Sheikh Hasina will attend the ceremony along with ministers, politicians from Bangladesh and other countries, UN senior officials, heads of international organisations, ambassadors, private sector and civil society leaders.

Joy graduated in computer science, physics and mathematics from Bangalore University, and did computer engineering at the University of Texas, Arlington in the US.

He completed his Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He was the first Bangladeshi to be selected as a Young Global Leader for the year 2007 as an Information Technology (IT) specialist by the World Economic Forum.

He is credited for leadership to the ‘Digital Bangladesh’ campaign which was the main election slogan of the Bangladesh Awami League when it came to power in Dec 2008.

Joy joined the Awami League as a primary member in his ancestral Rangpur district unit on Feb 25, 2010.

Earlier, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recognised in different ways Bangladesh’s strides to digitalisation.