infoDev

infoDev is a global development financing program among international development agencies, coordinated and served by an expert Secretariat housed in the Global ICT Department (GICT) of the World Bank, one of its key donors and founders. It acts as a neutral convener of dialogue, and as a coordinator of joint action among bilateral and multilateral donors—supporting global sharing of information on ICT for development (ICT4D), and helping to reduce duplication of efforts and investments. infoDev also forms partnerships with public and private-sector organizations who are innovators in the field of ICT4D.  Priorities and strategies for infoDev are guided by a governance framework, approved by infoDev Donors in June, 2005.

Committed to Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction

infoDev’s mandate is to help maximize the impact of ICTs in global efforts to achieve the internationally-supported Millennium Development Goals.  infoDev helps donors and their developing country partners identify ways ICT can contribute to objectives such as improving access, education and health services, making public institutions more efficient and transparent, supporting rural livelihoods, and contributing to economic growth by supporting small and medium-sized enterprises that use ICT for their businesses.

A Leading Resource of Knowledge on ICT for Development

infoDev sponsors cutting-edge research and analysis to help identify global best practice in the use of ICT4D.  Research typically begins with a “mapping” exercise to understand “what we know and do not know” in a particular field. This may be followed by analytical research, surveys, evaluation of past experiences and/or the initiation of pilot projects designed to yield further knowledge of the field.

Linking Knowledge and Action

infoDev uses the knowledge it gathers to develop workshops, training seminars, toolkits, handbooks, and briefs to support donors, policy makers and others working in the field of ICT4D who are charged with turning knowledge into action.  infoDev support assists them in setting policies, designing and implementing programs and projects, undertaking monitoring and evaluation, and building capacity.  To perpetuate and strengthen the knowledge/action cycle, infoDev incorporates the feedback it receives from such activities to strengthen the knowledge-base and to identify new research opportunities. Details of infoDev’s priority themes and activities can be found in the infoDev Research Strategy and Work Plan, 2005-2007.

Our Three Themes

infoDev's work focuses on three main themes: 

Enabling Access For All

infoDev helps developing countries and their international partners make intelligent choices and develop effective partnerships for enabling access to information infrastructure, applications and services in ways that are sustainable and maximize private investment and leverage public resources where necessary. This includes sponsoring research, toolkits and capacity building on regulation issues, expanding access to broadband, promoting municipal networks, etc.

Topic(s): Access for All

Mainstreaming ICT As Tools Of Development And Poverty Reduction

Through a rigorous program of field-based experimentation, research, and analysis, infoDev helps developing countries and their international partners make smart choices about when and how to deploy ICT as tools of their core development goals in health, education, livelihoods, public sector reform and other areas.

Topic(s): Devices | Education | Governance | Health | Livelihoods of the Poor

Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Growth

infoDev helps developing countries and the international partners maximize the contribution and impact of the private sector through direct support for ICT-enabled innovation, new business and partnership models and toolkits, and networking among entrepreneurs, private sector investors and the donor community. Our network of over 40 incubators around the developing world provides unique insight into the challenges facing ICT innovators and entrepreneurs in developing countries.

infoDev also pays particular attention to the topic of Monitoring & Evaluation.

Why infoDev?

ICTs, if grounded in local realities, can be powerful development tools

ICTs are widely seen as essential to helping developing countries achieve the kind of economic transformation and social empowerment seen in OECD countries.  Yet the unique environments in developing countries preclude the use of a “follow the leader” approach.  Different stages of economic development, and varied policy, regulatory and private-sector environments, lead to substantially different patterns of ICT distribution cost and use.  Designing ICT approaches relevant to developing countries requires a firm grounding in the realities of these countries, and considerable experimentation.

Development leaders require better information on the optimal uses of ICT for development

In the early 1990’s, the ICT-for-development field experienced a “bubble” of excessive optimism and enthusiasm which mirrored the broader technology boom of the times.  This led to a proliferation of pilot projects of unproven sustainability and scalability, with unclear impacts on the key development goals of fighting poverty and promoting broad-based, sustainable development.  Policymakers in developing countries and the donor agencies who assist them need better access to rigorous evidence, policy guidance and good practices in harnessing ICTs as tools of economic and social development.

The development community requires efficient tracking of rapid ICT advancements

Keeping abreast of the constantly changing ICT sector requires cutting-edge research and analysis, and relies on flexibility and effective partnerships with public and private sector organizations who are the main drivers of ICT innovations.  With limited resources, development leaders need methods of common support for and access to increasing global knowledge of the latest and best uses of ICT for development.

 Read more about infoDev on their website