The World Bank website provides the following description of the infoDev program:

"...Created in 1995 with the objective of addressing the obstacles facing developing countries in an increasingly information-driven world economy, infoDev has until recently been primarily a grant facility for pilot projects using information and communication technologies (ICT) to combat poverty and promote development. In the past few years, ICT-for-development initiatives have proliferated and the resources devoted to ICT in development portfolios have expanded. Yet, rigorous field-tested knowledge about 'what works and why' in ICT for development, and a deeper understanding of the enabling conditions and success factors in ICT-for-development initiatives, have been relatively scarce. As a result, there is a growing consensus in the development community that ICT will only become an effective and mainstream tool of poverty reduction and sustainable development if the proponents of ICT-for-development can provide more rigorous evidence, strategies, benchmarks, indicators, and good practices that are directly relevant to the core poverty-reduction and development priorities of developing countries and their international partners.

"infoDev's new strategy is designed to strengthen the linkages between pilot projects, evidence, analysis and action in harnessing ICTs for development."

The World Bank's website explains:

"infoDev's mission is to help developing countries and their international partners to maximize the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in combating poverty and promoting broad-based sustainable development. Its work is rooted in the conviction that information and communication are indispensable elements of effective institutions, markets and societies, and that empowering people and the institutions and markets that serve them with efficient and effective information and communication tools is a critical element in the fight against poverty and the effort to realize [what are referred to as] the Millennium Development Goals."