Public Policy Lab is a non-partisan think tank and policy consultancy firm based in the Maldives. We were registered in March 2024 and began operations around mid-2024. Our central project is the Policy Lab, a program aimed at developing the policy environment in the Maldives through original research, targeted projects, policy tools, publications, courses and seminars in partnership with other institutions, and training the next generation of policymakers.

The Policy Lab is currently funded primarily by proceeds from consultancy projects. As consultants, we specialise in providing deeply researched insights and analysis, polished publications and reports, and guided expertise for clients. Whether you're a government agency, local or city council, NGO, private company, political party, advocacy group, educational institution, international organization, or anyone in need of policy expertise, you can find that with us.

We also aim to advance and develop the policy environment in the Maldives, carry out original research, create useful policy tools and materials, complete ambitious projects for the social good, drive policy conversations in the Maldives by broadening discussions and widening the Overton window with creative and carefully thought-out policy arguments, and train the next generation of policymakers with comprehensive skills and deep practical knowledge before they enter roles in government and the civil sector.

Our work will always include not-for-profit policy development activities: whether pro bono policy and technical advisory roles, education, research and publications, or data tools.

Our approach

Our guiding principle is five words: A better world is possible.

Our approach is:

  • Working toward results. Evidence-based methods, concrete outcomes. We focus on what actually changes, not just what gets produced.

  • Seeking low-hanging fruit. Small changes often have outsized impact. We look for interventions that are feasible, fixable, and neglected – reforms that can build momentum for harder changes.

  • Starting conversations. Public discussion drives policy outcomes. We welcome feedback because it improves ideas.

  • Pushing ourselves. Hard work, high volume, high standards.

  • Conviction over cynicism. Fatalism becomes habit. We try to maintain an optimistic, persistent approach to the work.

We have a broadly optimistic and enthusiastic approach to policy topics. While understanding why working in policy can leave you jaded and cynical, we try to consistently maintain an upbeat approach and firm self-belief in the ability to change things. Fatalism can be a self-fulfilling prophecy: you can't change things if you don't try.

We also believe in respecting the reader and the practitioner. We aim to reach people where they are, writing to make our work clear without dumbing it down. We aim to be specific and concrete. In projects, we aim to document methods so that good work can be repeated. In policy design, we aim to ensure even at the design stage that programs will be easy for institutions to adopt.

We aim to have a collaborative approach in working with others. In our view, almost everyone is a potential ally. We believe that most people we meet do want a better Maldives – they just don't know where to start or have been burned too many times before to retain their conviction.

Our track record

Over the past one and a half years, we have delivered policy wins that moved government decisions, built institutional capacity, and created delivery systems that are still running.

Electoral integrity research: The Cost of Politics in the Maldives

In 2024–2025, we led the research for the Westminster Foundation for Democracy's Cost of Politics study – an examination of how money shapes electoral politics in the Maldives.

Research approach: As lead researcher and principal author, we designed and executed qualitative research including:

  • 22 in-depth interviews with Members of Parliament, parliamentary candidates, campaign managers, party officials, electoral body representatives, civil society leaders, political journalists, and independent experts
  • A digital questionnaire distributed to candidates across parties and constituencies
  • Focus group discussions with citizens on voter perspectives
  • A validation session with 12 representatives from civil society, government, political parties, and election bodies

The research covered candidates from both major parties and multiple minor parties, independents, candidates from Malé City and regional constituencies, male and female candidates, youth and experienced campaigners, winners and losers.

Findings: The report documented campaign costs in detail:

  • Average campaign budgets range from MVR 2–3 million in Malé to MVR 4–5 million in regional constituencies, with some races reaching MVR 15 million
  • 75–90% of campaign budgets are allocated to vote-buying – cash payments, paying off voter debts, household goods, home repairs
  • The going rate for a vote is approximately MVR 5,000, roughly two weeks of median income
  • Primary elections within major parties can cost MVR 200,000–4 million, with no party support
  • State-owned enterprise jobs are used as campaign currency, with candidates estimating 40–100 SOE positions promised per constituency
  • Women, youth, and persons with disabilities face compounding barriers including exclusion from networks, harassment, and limited access to funding

The report also documented mechanisms sustaining these practices: organised vote-selling operations, the role of religion in binding transactional commitments, and structural advantages favouring the sitting president's party.

Subsequent developments: After publication in February 2025, both major parties incorporated aspects of the recommendations into public statements. The Government announced electoral reform plans matching key recommendations, including combining presidential and parliamentary elections and introducing ranked-choice voting. The President proposed holding a public referendum on these reforms.

The report is available at wfd.org/what-we-do/resources/cost-politics-maldives.

Child and family well-being: UNICEF partnership

Since July 2025, we have led technical work on UNICEF's Child and Family Well-Being Project – an initiative addressing systemic drivers of family instability in the Maldives.

Context: The Maldives has one of the world's highest divorce rates. Children bear significant costs from parental conflict and marital dissolution, with research showing lifelong impacts on attachment, trust, and wellbeing. The current system has gaps: fragmented institutional responses, outdated legal frameworks creating gender-disparate burdens, and limited early intervention mechanisms.

Our role: We lead the technical work across multiple components:

Vulnerability mapping research. We designed and conducted 19 in-depth interviews with marginalized women across diverse circumstances: ages ranging from those who married at 16 to women in their 40s navigating multiple marriages; education levels from no formal schooling to postgraduate qualifications; locations spanning the capital city to remote atolls; women with disabilities and mothers of children with disabilities.

The research documented patterns of physical, sexual, financial, and technology-facilitated abuse; post-divorce financial devastation; years of unpaid child support without enforcement; and the 60% of domestic violence survivors who lacked knowledge of available support services.

Mediation programme development. We developed a 7-day Training of Trainers programme to certify Ministry staff as family mediators. The curriculum covers ADR fundamentals, relevant legal frameworks (Family Act, Child Rights Protection Act, Domestic Violence Prevention Act), mediation process and ethics, roleplay exercises, and facilitation skills. The programme includes gender-based violence screening protocols – mediation is prohibited in active violence cases.

Premarital education reform. We are redesigning the existing Family Court programme into an interactive online curriculum accessible via phone or laptop. The reformed programme covers communication and conflict resolution, financial literacy, parenting, and legal rights. Mutual checkpoint requirements ensure both partners discuss and agree on key decisions before marriage. The online format allows mandatory completion for island and international marriages, addressing current procedural gaps.

Marriage agreement templates. We developed standardized prenuptial agreement templates protecting children's interests and women's economic rights, covering financial obligations, custody and child support, conflict management, and divorce protections. Focus groups revealed only 2 of 15 participants knew such agreements were legally possible.

Procedural standardization. We are working to align marriage, divorce, and training procedures across Malé, the atolls, and the diaspora. Currently, 36% of divorce cases involve out-of-court verification, and marriages solemnized abroad often fail to register. The project is piloting video-based registration and premarital training for the diaspora in Malaysia, with broader rollout planned for 2026.

Child support payment reform. Average delays of 30–44 days in child support processing were destabilizing 10,000 dependent families. We worked with the Family Court, Department of Judicial Administration, and Ministry of Finance to streamline workflows. Delays have been significantly reduced.

Recommendations. The research generated 50 implementable recommendations across economic independence and skills training, adult education, community networks, premarital education, frontline systems sensitization, legal reform, and financial protections.

Research publication is on track for January 2026.

Technical support for the National Library of Maldives

Since early 2024, we have provided pro bono technical support to the National Library of Maldives.

Work completed:

  • Designed and facilitated focus groups and workshops with approximately 70 stakeholders – librarians, educators, students, civil servants, researchers, and community representatives
  • Drafted Social Council papers and technical reviews advocating for a new central library building, regional libraries in key cities, a boat library service for remote atolls, and a strengthened national network
  • Supported development of the National Library's five-year Action Plan
  • Conducted research on library needs and capacity gaps across all islands (publication expected January 2026)

The policy paper has been approved, with construction of a new central building expected to begin in 2026.

We also wrote papers positioning oral history collection as a public good and part of cultural infrastructure. In 2025, the Government launched a nationwide oral history initiative with collection and training activities.

Urbanism-related policy advocacy

Advocacy for development of third spaces in Malé City

We pushed for safe, non-home, non-work places in Malé as a real policy gap, not a lifestyle complaint. A gap that affects mental health, youth life, civic connection, and the daily experience of living in dense urban space. We turned that into a concrete agenda, then pushed it through public discussion, advocacy, and practical proposals. Result: Cabinet decision in November 2024, dedicated Third Space Community Centre venue opened on Lily Magu in November 2025.

365 Arts City pilot programs for third spaces and a de-atomized society

Through the 365 Arts City program, we plan and host pilot events like movie screenings with partner institutions, with the goal of making Malé a place where people can reliably find community, culture, and safe public life on any given night. We also host poetry readings and promote local writers, publishing chapbooks by writers willing to share their poetry in zine or chapbook format.

[PHOTO PLACEHOLDER: Movie night event at [venue]]

[PHOTO PLACEHOLDER: Poetry reading / chapbook launch event]

Our events are small, low-cost, and rooted in neighbourhoods instead of large formal venues. They serve three roles at once: they provide real activities for residents, they function as pilots for what a more creative city could look like, and they support arguments for cultural and arts policy that places daily life and community at the centre. The 365 Arts City policy goal is to move toward a city where there's always an accessible third-space activity and something fun, enriching, and community-building to do on any given night of the year.

[PHOTO PLACEHOLDER: Community event / trivia night]

Field research on urbanism, city liveability, and mobility

We produced sustainable mobility research that measured street widths and urban form to understand why motorcycles dominate and what safer streets would require in practice. This grounded abstract urbanism debates in concrete data about how the city actually works. Other work included estimates of the shortfall in greenery coverage and the need for shading infrastructure in Malé City.

Other work

Oral history and cultural policy advocacy briefs

In 2024 we wrote papers on oral history collection as a serious public good, cultural preservation processes, and the value of pro-social and social fabric development policy norms. In 2025, the Government launched a norms campaign and nationwide oral history initiative with collection and training activities.

Pro bono advisory for Maldivian High Commission in Malaysia

We have supported other actors in achieving their goals, even when we are not leading the project. That includes advising on diaspora service concepts and community-oriented programming, supporting councils and organizations with policy platforms and proposals, and helping institutions write stronger submissions, grant applications, and technical documents.

Institutional capacity building activities

We have supported teams with training and systems that make data usable for management and policymaking, including advisory support on statistics, performance reporting, and practical Excel-based workflows. We deliver seminars and tailored support where a team has a real problem and needs someone who can sit down, understand constraints, and build something they can keep using after the engagement ends.

Workshops and trainings for parties and candidates

We hold workshops and trainings for candidates and parties on building consistent and compatible policy platforms, sharpening a clear vision, articulating values, building organizational and message discipline frameworks, and developing strong messaging.

Training future policymakers

We have run research internships for five young policy professionals built around guided projects, paper development, and reading and skills plans. We also deliver seminars and training sessions across policy skills, with an explicit focus on usable outputs and repeatable methods.

Other ongoing projects

  • Compilation of news archive headlines by policy area, keyword, and island or atoll to develop into portals for easy sourcing by researchers and academics to trace the publicly available history and development of policy issues or location development

What we publish

Beyond client work, we produce and publish independent materials.

Policy briefs and essays

This publication is an example. We write and publish policy briefs, essays, and analysis on topics we believe deserve more attention or clearer thinking.

Economics handbook

We are developing an economics handbook designed to provide intuitive explanations as a supplement for economics students – covering the reasoning, intuition, and practical understanding that formal courses often fail to convey. This is a publishing project aimed at students and anyone wanting to build genuine economic literacy.

Policy textbook and courses

We are developing a policy textbook and accompanying course materials aimed at current and future policy professionals. These draw on practical experience and are designed to teach what actually matters in policy work – the skills, judgment, and knowledge that formal education often misses.

Online policy seminars

We have developed 12 seminar sessions collecting practical tips and advice from experienced officials, providing information directly relevant to staff in government, NGO, and other policy-related sectors. Online versions of these seminars will be made available in 2026.

AI for policymakers

We offer workshops and seminars on AI for policymakers – focused on what AI is, where it fails, how to govern it, and how to use it safely and effectively inside institutions. As AI tools become more prevalent, policymakers need to understand both the governance challenges and the practical applications.

Research available for commission

We have ongoing research in various stages of development that we are seeking partners or commissioners to bring to publication. These include:

  • Evolution of policy areas: Detailed research tracing the development of policy in specific areas over time, drawing from news archives, legislative history, and institutional records. We have substantial notes and drafts covering multiple policy domains, each potentially 60+ pages when completed.

  • News archive compilations: Organized archives of news coverage by policy area, keyword, location, and time period – useful for researchers, academics, journalists, and anyone needing to trace how issues developed publicly.

  • Compilations of existing research: Indexed collections of existing research, reports, and assessments on specific topics, organized for practical use by policymakers and researchers.

If you are interested in commissioning any of these projects or funding their completion, please reach out.

What partners hire us to do

We support government ministries and agencies, local councils, NGOs and civil society groups, private sector actors, political parties, and international organizations. We can deliver full projects or plug into an existing team as your policy, research, and delivery unit.

If you need policy work that is sharp, practical, and grounded in how decisions really get made in the Maldives, we can deliver. We understand what international partners need for successful delivery, we know how Maldivian institutions actually operate, and we have the record to prove we can bridge that gap even with limited resources.

Policy strategy and high-stakes writing

The kind of documents that need to be right the first time: Cabinet papers, Social Council and Economic Council papers, technical submissions, briefing notes, policy memos. We know the formats, we know the audiences, we know what gets a paper through versus what gets it sent back for revision.

  • Policy roadmaps, implementation plans, and delivery frameworks – documents that link vision to staff responsibilities, timelines, and budgets
  • Political vision development and policy platform workshops for councils, parties, and organizations
  • Legal-policy analysis and structured problem-solving, including support with regulatory questions and institutional mandates

Research, consultancy, and publications

  • Deep policy research, rapid research packs, and custom reports built for decision-makers, not academic audiences
  • Stakeholder consultations, focus groups, interview-based research, and synthesis into implementable recommendations
  • Market-style reports and investor prospectuses for islands, cities, regions, and major projects
  • Data collection design, data cleaning, analysis, and presentation built for people who need to act on the findings

Monitoring, evaluation, and delivery systems

  • M&E frameworks, indicators, reporting templates, and dashboards
  • Data-based performance management support and developing capacity in using data for performance improvements

Tools, mapping, and data products

  • Online policy tools and trackers that make commitments visible and trackable
  • Mapping tools for service access, equity questions, and disability and accessibility audits
  • Practical documentation and templates that help institutions replicate good work without reinventing the wheel
  • Data cleaning, analysis, model-building, forecasting, and other analytics services

Training, workshops, and seminars

  • Crash courses for policy professionals, teams, and leadership groups
  • Workshops on policy writing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and using evidence under time pressure
  • AI for policymakers workshops – what AI is, where it fails, how to govern it, and how to use it safely inside institutions
  • Conferences, seminars, and public events that build policy literacy and open space for reform conversations

Career support for policy professionals

  • Resume review and career advice for individuals entering or navigating the policy field
  • Guidance on building a policy career, developing a portfolio, and positioning yourself for opportunities

Investor materials and private sector support

  • Investor materials, copywriting, and financial projections for local businesses seeking investment
  • Market entry support for international firms looking to understand the Maldivian context

Local partner support for international firms

If you are an international firm bidding for or delivering work in the Maldives, we can be your on-the-ground policy and delivery partner:

  • Stakeholder mapping and navigation of institutional relationships
  • Local context briefings that go beyond generic country reports
  • Facilitation and coordination that keeps projects moving
  • Data collection, rapid analysis, and field research
  • Troubleshooting when things do not go according to plan
  • Translation of international best practices into locally viable approaches

We understand what serious international partners need for successful delivery, and we understand how Maldivian institutions actually operate. We can bridge that gap because we work in both worlds.

Our budget and what it shows

The total budget for Public Policy Lab over 16 months from July 2024 to December 2025 has been MVR 425,750 – approximately USD 27,646. That works out to a rough annual budget of just USD 20,735.

This covers:

  • One full-time staff member for most of that period
  • Part-time and deliverables-based staff payments
  • Rent for office space
  • Event hosting and equipment
  • Software subscriptions and business expenses

Everything listed in this publication – the research that influenced government reform announcements, the UNICEF partnership, the National Library work that led to approved construction plans, the Cabinet decision on third spaces, the trainings, the events, the internships – was produced on that budget.

For context: even small policy units at international organizations typically operate with annual budgets of USD 150,000–200,000 or more. The UNDP Accelerator Lab, for example, has an annual budget of approximately USD 180,000. We have operated at roughly one-ninth of that scale while producing work that moved policy.

This is not a complaint. It demonstrates what is possible with focused effort and efficient use of resources. It also shows what could be achieved with real investment.

Support our work

We are looking to grow. The constraint is not ideas or capacity – it is resources. Our senior team currently splits time between revenue-generating consulting work and the policy work we believe matters most. With additional funding, we can dedicate more time to direct policy impact.

What funding would enable:

  • Hiring additional full-time staff to expand our research and delivery capacity
  • Taking on more ambitious policy projects without needing to chase consulting revenue
  • Paying researchers and consultants to collaborate with us on specific projects
  • Expanding our events and training programs
  • Building toward an international presence

For potential funders and donors:

If you believe in building serious policy capacity in small states, in research that actually moves decisions, in training the next generation of policymakers – we would welcome your support. Even modest funding by international standards would dramatically expand what we can do.

We are open to project-specific funding, general operating support, or multi-year commitments that allow us to plan and hire with confidence.

For potential investors:

We are also open to investment partnerships. Public Policy Lab generates revenue through consulting, and that revenue scales with capacity. An investment that allows us to hire and take on more projects would scale returns accordingly.

If you are interested in a model where policy impact and financial sustainability reinforce each other, we would be glad to discuss what a partnership could look like.

Looking to the future

The Maldives needs a home for serious, practical policy work that moves from ideas to decisions to delivery. A place where hard problems can be discussed clearly without becoming theatre. Where technical capacity exists and can be mobilized quickly. Where institutional memory and policy expertise do not evaporate when staff turn over or governments change.

We are building that capacity. If you need policy work done right, if you need a local partner who delivers what they promise, if you need research that can withstand scrutiny and implementation support that does not disappear after the first workshop – we would like to work with you.

Contact us

General inquiries: info@policylabmv.com

Partnerships, consulting, and funding: zayaan@policylabmv.com | +960 786 1232

Address:
M. Iris, 4th floor
Orchid Magu
Malé, Maldives