While we have focused on a relatively narrow set of points in our collection of briefs, we aim to contextualize these within the context of the established mainstream view on major policy areas. This section is a high-level recap of the current policy direction in Maldivian policy circles – primarily taken from government documents and plans, electoral platforms, international organization discussions, and policymakers – on policy issues and direction for major areas. This section is a broad overview of our understanding of the current mainstream for policy discussions. As with everything else in this document, we hope to get comments and corrections on what we either got wrong about the consensus, or about disputes we missed on certain points that make them more contentious than we realized.
Housing and Spatial Development
Housing and spatial policy converges on a structured, rules-based system rather than ad hoc project announcements. A core element is a formal national housing policy backed by a housing database and regular nationwide needs assessments. The idea is to move from scattered registers and politically driven waiting lists to a single, continuously updated picture of demand, covering household characteristics, income, location, tenure and vulnerabilities. On top of this, a standardised scoring or queueing mechanism is promoted so that applicants can see where they stand and why, and so that different schemes across islands can be run on consistent criteria rather than discretionary judgment.
On the supply side, policy frameworks back a mix of large-scale construction in main urban areas and steady provision in other islands, using public construction, public–private partnerships and collaboration with private developers. These programmes are expected to include basic green and resilient design standards, and to link directly to urban regeneration plans, not just raw unit counts. Alongside new builds, there is explicit focus on upgrading existing stock, with technical and financial support to improve safety, ventilation, overcrowding and structural quality. The housing agenda also commits to opening space for private and cooperative developers while keeping a strong social-housing arm for priority groups.
Allocation policy has become much more explicit. Recent frameworks make clear that digital platforms should be used for applications and status tracking, that criteria should be published in advance, and that priority bands are needed for groups facing structural barriers. These typically include young families, single parents, people with disabilities, people without inheritance prospects and workers in sectors where housing is tightly constrained. There is also an appetite to address historical grievances through dedicated schemes for people who were shortlisted but never received housing under previous rounds. The intent is to show that housing is being treated as a rights-based public service with predictable rules rather than as a once-off favour.
Access and affordability are treated as a separate set of instruments rather than left to market forces. Policy toolkits include housing grants and subsidies for low-income households, concessional loans for construction and purchase, targeted savings schemes, end-user finance models for first-time buyers and specialised instruments for construction on plots already granted by the state. Housing trust funds are proposed to pool public and private resources for social housing in a more sustainable way. These financial tools sit alongside planned legal reforms that would codify the right to adequate housing, modernise tenancy and strata rules, and clarify the rights and duties of owners, tenants and associations, with a strong push to digitalise records and transactions.
Spatial development policy ties housing to a wider map of where people live and work. There is a shared emphasis on strengthening regional urban centres, developing clear land-use plans, and aligning major investments in roads, ports, utilities, social facilities and housing. Local development plans are expected to be risk-based and aligned with national strategies, so that new housing and infrastructure take account of coastal risk, climate projections and disaster exposure rather than historic patterns alone. New large-scale urban developments are framed as high-resilience, low-carbon settlements designed from the outset with universal accessibility, rather than piecemeal extensions. In sum, housing policy is no longer just about units delivered: it is about integrated planning, transparent allocation and financial and legal systems that can sustain access to decent housing over time.
Social Protection and Disability
The social protection consensus is built around the importance a unified framework rather than a loose cluster of allowances. A central agency, working under a framework law, is tasked with managing both social assistance and elements of social insurance, with the explicit goal of building a multi-tier system that guarantees a basic social protection floor throughout the life cycle. This means integrating cash transfers, medical welfare, pensions and other schemes so that they are coherent, complementary and easier for people to navigate. Policy texts call for a full mapping and revision of the benefits package across all social assistance programmes, looking at adequacy, overlap and gaps.
A major plank is system rationalisation. Existing plans point to a “more rational social protection system” in which benefits reach rightful beneficiaries through better targeting, supported by timely and accurate information. This includes strengthening or creating a social registry, harmonising eligibility rules across schemes, and revising legislations so that they align with a single vision of social protection rather than legacy arrangements. Administrative and governance reforms aim to build institutional capacity for programme design, case management, grievance redress and monitoring, so that the system can shift from reactive, paperwork-based processing to proactive identification and support of vulnerable people.
There is also a clear intention to expand social care alongside cash. Medium-term priorities include using higher budget allocations to subsidise key services rather than only income. Examples include support for therapies for children with special needs, assistance with medical check-ups and treatment costs for women and older people, and stronger support for foster parents and carers in family-based care arrangements. Social protection institutions are encouraged to work closely with health services, education providers and local councils so that assessments and referrals are smoother and people are not left to coordinate complex cases alone.
Disability policy is articulated in even more detailed terms. The direction is to ensure that services are inclusive and accessible for everyone, regardless of background or circumstances, and to progressively reduce inequalities faced by persons with disabilities. Policy lines include enhancing the capacity of all social protection and service-delivery institutions to work with disabled clients, ensuring equitable access to essential needs, and adopting social protection rules that explicitly address disability-related costs. A flagship measure is the establishment of a dedicated disability centre for diagnosis, support services and rehabilitation, seen as a national hub that complements local services.
Early identification and intervention is treated as its own pillar. Plans outline a national referral system for early identification, covering screening protocols, inter-agency referrals and data management, and a commitment to make therapy services more accessible and affordable across the islands. At the same time, disability policy is strongly tied to labour and education. There is a push to enhance workforce inclusion by increasing the representation of disabled people, expand technical and vocational training opportunities tailored to different impairments, and enforce disability-inclusive infrastructure and accessibility standards in services and information. Community-level programmes are tasked with promoting inclusive communities and meaningful participation in social and civic life, so that disability is not only addressed through formal services but through the way neighbourhoods, workplaces and institutions function day to day.
Blue Economy, Tourism and Economic Diversification
Blue economy policy treats ocean-based sectors as an integrated whole. In fisheries and marine resources, the focus is on enforcing regulations, closing data gaps on stocks and catches, and aligning exploitation with scientific advice. Constraints identified in previous plans are addressed through policies to strengthen monitoring and control, develop a more stringent framework for aquaculture and mariculture (especially on chemical use), and improve traceability and quality standards to access premium markets. Economic measures include mechanisms to set flexible price floors for major species that consider global prices, reforms to ensure rapid payment to fishers through state-owned enterprises, and investment to expand and modernise canning and processing capacity in multiple regions.
Employment and income within and around the fishing industry are treated as policy priorities. Programmes are designed to open up fisheries-related businesses to women and youth, provide low-interest loans for vessels and value-chain investments, and use a formal registry of fishers to underpin access to credit, pensions and recognition schemes. These are linked to SME development policies that direct a share of state-backed lending toward small fishery businesses and support the creation of green, ocean-related enterprises.
Tourism policy within this consensus goes beyond bed-number expansion. Frameworks emphasise diversifying source markets and product types, including through targeted marketing, expanded air connectivity and training funds that allow workers to upgrade skills. There is an effort to integrate local communities more fully, with digital platforms to promote guesthouses and local experiences, and measures to increase local sourcing of food and services. Environmental performance is tied into tourism competitiveness, with “green SME” initiatives and sustainability standards encouraged so that small firms can supply tourism while meeting environmental norms.
Economic diversification policy then steps back and sets out a macro-level agenda. Diversification is defined on two axes: expanding products and markets in existing sectors, and promoting new activities in digital, clean-technology and manufacturing industries that fit the country’s brand and constraints. Infrastructure such as ports, airports, logistics hubs and digital networks is treated as enabling investment, but the actual diversification drive is routed through sector ministries, with a coordinating role for economic and finance authorities.
To make diversification real for households, policy targets access to finance and new income streams. One set of measures seeks to improve access to banking and financial services by expanding physical and digital access points and making it easier to tap into international financial platforms. Another set works on enabling self-employment and micro-enterprise across industries: facilitating low-fee inbound and outbound payments through global online gateways, enabling seller accounts on e-commerce and freelancing platforms, and building domestic platforms and delivery systems that allow youth, women, farmers and craftspeople to sell to national and tourism markets. Public procurement and targeted “local sourcing” initiatives are used to create demand for these producers. In this way, blue economy policy, tourism development and diversification form a single cluster centred on sustainable ocean use, broader participation and a thicker base of small and growing firms.
Environment, Climate, Clean Energy, Waste and Water
Environmental and climate policy is organised as a coherent set of subsectors: environmental protection and preservation, clean energy, waste management, water and sanitation, resilient communities, ICT and culture. The environmental protection strand prioritises a comprehensive reef-restoration and protection mechanism, expanded legal protection for wetlands, mangroves, sandbanks and uninhabited islands, and a chemicals-management law that regulates the entire life cycle from import to disposal. Quality-control mechanisms for labelling imported chemicals and a “user pays” principle for biodiversity and ecosystem services are meant to reduce harm and internalise environmental costs in economic decisions. An independent environmental agency is to function as the core regulator.
Clean energy policy is built on two institutional pillars: a utility regulator for integrated utility services and a modernised energy-efficiency and labelling system. Targets to cut fuel use for electricity and raise the share of renewables sit alongside measures to introduce green labelling in the energy sector and to improve planning and oversight of utilities. Energy policy is closely tied to waste and water infrastructure, with a growing expectation that island-level waste and water facilities will increasingly run on renewables, reducing operating costs and emissions.
Waste policy reframes waste as a resource. Guidelines on handling, storage and transport of non-medical waste and chemicals are to be enforced across inhabited islands, and open burning is to be phased down sharply. A significant share of island waste management centres are expected to use solar power, and engineers trained in waste systems are to be deployed nationwide. There is a concrete commitment to phase out single-use plastics through import and production controls, backed by education so that students and communities adopt “reduce, reuse, recycle” practices as normal.
Water and sanitation policy is straightforward but ambitious: universal access to safe drinking water and sewerage on inhabited islands, delivered through professionally run systems. Alongside infrastructure investments, there is a focus on building human capacity in water and sanitation fields and on ensuring that a rising share of energy used in these systems comes from renewable sources. This is linked to health, tourism and environmental goals, recognising that poor water and wastewater management undermines all three.
The “resilient communities” strand pulls climate and disaster risk management into everyday planning. Local development plans are expected to be risk-based and aligned with national frameworks, and regional emergency operations centres, end-to-end early warning and emergency communication systems, and trained volunteer response teams on every inhabited island form the backbone of preparedness. Climate finance is to be mobilised through direct-access modalities, with a portion of delegations to international climate negotiations reserved for young women and men to build domestic expertise. All of this fits under a wider island-development concept that combines decentralisation, transport networks, environmental protection, clean energy and culture into a single picture of sustainable “island life”.
Education, Skills, Higher Education and TVET
Across recent plans there is a clear consensus that education policy has to do three things at once: keep basic schooling universal and of reasonable quality, repair the link between schooling and employability, and expand higher education without reproducing the geographic and class divides of the capital. That shows up in a set of policies to upgrade school infrastructure, support teacher wellbeing, strengthen school safety and emergency preparedness, and “transform” the system through institutional reform and better data management. Schools are expected to modernise pedagogy, introduce more flexible learning pathways, and use data systems to track learning outcomes and guide resource allocation.
Skills policy is being pulled closer to the school system. One strand is to normalise vocational and technical options from earlier grades, through sampler courses and curriculum changes that expose younger students to trades and practical skills and then extend TVET-type pathways through secondary and post-secondary tiers. Policy documents explicitly call for rebranding school TVET and BTEC-style programmes, widening them to all students, and building clearer pathways between academic and vocational streams, so students can move between them rather than getting locked into a track too early. Non-formal education is meant to sit alongside this as a way to reach adults and out-of-school youth through revised policies, trained non-formal educators in outer atolls, and different delivery modalities, including community-based and distance provision.
Higher education is framed as both a human capital and an equity project. Recent policy directions stress expanding programme options, increasing overall enrolment, and reducing the Male’-centric concentration of institutions. This means public investment in campuses and student accommodation in line with spatial development plans, support for students from marginalised and outer-island groups, and the creation of higher education “hubs of excellence” where foreign and local universities, research centres and support facilities are clustered. Financing policy leans towards a mix of scholarships, loans, and incentives for SOEs and the private sector to co-fund students in priority fields. There is also an emphasis on easing transition from study to work and aligning scholarship and loan schemes with labour market needs, so graduates are more likely to find relevant employment.
Quality assurance and research policy complete the picture. The Higher Education Act and agencies like the qualifications and skills authorities are tasked with ensuring that both domestic and overseas programmes meet minimum standards, that qualifications are recognised, and that providers are regulated. Plans include ranking systems for institutions, stronger quality assurance mechanisms, and a national research fund to encourage work in strategic and nationally relevant areas, with the hope that universities become sites of applied research feeding into policy and innovation. TVET governance is supposed to be tightened through better monitoring of institutions, image-building campaigns to make vocational tracks more attractive, and expansion of programmes linked to key sectors such as tourism, construction, ICT and logistics.
Health and Care Systems
Health policy converges on a few core pillars: prevention, universal primary care, a competent and retained workforce, and stronger governance and digital systems. There is a sustained focus on health promotion and health education, tailored to different audiences, alongside measures to ensure cleaner, safer environments that limit injuries and the spread of infectious disease. Primary health care is meant to be publicly provided on all inhabited islands, backed by better disease surveillance and health information systems that track births, deaths, morbidity patterns and social determinants. These systems are supposed to enable earlier detection of outbreaks, inform planning, and give a clearer picture of non-communicable disease burdens.
Workforce policies recognise chronic shortages and attrition. Recent frameworks talk about bringing back nurses and other health workers who have left, setting and enforcing certification standards for all health professionals, and insisting that facility managers be qualified health professionals rather than purely political appointees. There is attention to expanding cadres that have been thin on the ground, such as mental health specialists and paramedics, with explicit commitments to training and recruitment to fill those gaps. At the same time, health sector laws are being refreshed or developed: implementation of food safety legislation, revision of occupational health and safety rules, a preventive healthcare act, and a dedicated mental health act are all framed as part of building a modern regulatory base for care and public health.
Digital health is treated as a structural reform rather than a side project. Policy proposals include a national health data repository and data centre, interconnecting all health facilities on a single network, putting hospital information and services online, and building digital databases for both health services and professional licensing. These databases are meant to be accessible to the public where appropriate, with backup and disaster recovery provisions to keep the system resilient. The idea is that once health records, facility information and licensing data are integrated, planning, referrals and oversight all become easier.
Specific disease and service areas then sit on top of this platform. Thalassemia and other blood disorders are a longstanding focus, with policies to strengthen treatment pathways and expand subsidised access to advanced interventions. Emergency medical care is to be upgraded through a national ambulatory service, integrated with health facilities and other agencies. Mental health is singled out for a full system build-out: strengthening the national mental health department, setting up multi-sectoral committees and advisory groups, revising and costing a national mental health strategy, developing surveillance, greatly increasing the mental health workforce, and establishing dedicated facilities while integrating mental health into primary and secondary care. Governance reforms emphasise a national public health laboratory, routine monitoring of policies and programmes with results-based tools, and the use of evidence and resource reviews in decision-making, with health authorities also expected to advocate for “healthy public policies” in other sectors.
Labour, Employment and Migration
Labour policy rests on the twin recognition that the domestic labour force is underused and that the economy is heavily reliant on foreign workers. The consensus is to improve the quality and fairness of work, expand participation by youth, women and persons with disabilities, and manage migration more deliberately. Earlier plans highlighted wage inequalities and the lack of a coherent salary framework; current directions build on that foundation with policies to establish equitable pay systems, set and update minimum wage categories using labour market and household data, and align domestic labour laws with international standards on equal remuneration. Compliance is supposed to be enforced through monitoring mechanisms, labour inspections and clearer employer obligations.
Governance of the labour market itself is treated as a reform area. There are recurring references to strengthening labour administration, creating or revitalising tripartite consultative mechanisms that bring together government, employers and workers, and updating labour legislation in a timely way to meet International Labour Organization commitments. Occupational health and safety standards, which have historically been weak in some sectors, are part of this push, with policies targeting poor working conditions as a structural issue rather than isolated violations. Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and more accessible complaint channels are also framed as tools to give workers practical recourse when rights are breached.
Youth and women’s employment are treated as distinct but overlapping priorities. Strategies include more systematic career guidance and mentoring, internships and apprenticeship-type schemes that are better aligned with industry needs, and skills programmes that combine cognitive, socio-emotional, technical and digital skills. To activate women in particular, policy makes repeated reference to childcare provision, flexible work arrangements, incentives for hiring women, and the removal of regulatory and cultural barriers that keep women out of certain sectors. Disability-inclusive employment is also named, with labour policies expected to tie into broader social protection and anti-discrimination measures.
Migration policy is shifting away from a reactive approach to one that combines labour market planning and rights protection. Existing gaps have been identified around quota policies, administration and compliance, weak service standards, and the persistence of fraudulent recruitment practices that create trafficking risks. The consensus direction is to firm up regulation of recruitment agencies, improve licensing and oversight, and coordinate enforcement across labour, immigration and police authorities. At the same time, there is an attempt to balance the continued need for foreign workers with efforts to train Maldivians into both skilled and low-skilled roles, so that reliance on expatriate labour does not crowd out domestic activation. Some plans also introduce unemployment benefits as part of a wider “resilient labour market” approach, especially in light of the lessons from COVID-19, where diversification of employment structures and better social insurance are seen as buffers against external shocks.
Youth, Gender Equality, Families and Drugs
Youth policy has moved away from treating young people mainly as a “risk group” and towards seeing them as a central development asset. Recent frameworks describe a multi-sectoral approach where employment, education, mental health, housing, arts, culture and sports are all levers for youth outcomes. Core policies include a national youth development policy, formal structures for youth participation in policymaking, and leadership and advocacy programmes that position young people as partners in national development. There is explicit concern with youth unemployment, NEET rates, gang involvement and crime, so youth policy also targets early identification of adolescents with antisocial traits and referrals into programmes that combine counselling, skills, and structured activities.
Supporting infrastructure for youth is meant to expand beyond sports grounds to include community spaces, libraries and digital access to learning. Policy commitments talk about strengthening the national library as a public service, establishing modern libraries in cities, and building the library’s institutional and financial capacity, along with a legal framework for libraries and better digital access nationwide. Youth policy also explicitly links to social housing, skills training, entrepreneurship support, and ICT and coding programmes, recognising both the limits of traditional sectors and the possibilities of a digital and “creator” economy.
Gender equality policy is anchored in the Gender Equality Act and a multi-year gender action plan. The consensus is that gender is not just a social affairs issue but has to be mainstreamed into leadership, economic policy, institutional practice, and access to justice. Policy objectives include mobilising society to question stereotypes, changing media portrayals of gender roles, and strengthening community awareness around equality. There is a strong focus on women’s political and leadership participation, with strategies to reform party governance, reduce barriers in electoral processes, and dismantle informal obstacles in career progression. Economic policies aim to expand women’s access to housing, land and finance, value unpaid and care work, and improve workplace safety and inclusion. Institutional reforms include independent “gender machinery”, inter-agency coordination structures, and integration of gender analysis into civil service performance systems and training.
Family and care policy sits at the intersection of gender and social protection. Prior plans already addressed childcare institutions, childcare regulations, and licensing of carers; newer directions link these with broader efforts to support working parents and recognise shared parental responsibilities. Responses to gender-based violence, including domestic violence, are being tightened through shelter SOPs, emergency funds for survivors, and health-sector guidelines and training on GBV, combined with monitoring of service providers’ adherence to legal and clinical standards.
Drug policy has shifted towards a more balanced prevention–treatment–reintegration model. Earlier plans emphasised evidence-based prevention programmes, certified trainers in atolls, and monitoring of prevention effectiveness. Current directions talk about expanding treatment centres in hotspots, tailoring facilities to women and younger clients, and partnering with experienced international providers to deliver detox and rehabilitation services, including through incentivised private facilities. A key gap identified is social reintegration, so policy now calls for comprehensive reintegration programmes and stronger coordination between the National Drug Agency and law enforcement bodies, recognising that demand-side and supply-side control need to operate under a single strategic umbrella.
Digital Economy, ICT and Public Service Delivery
Digital policy has two intertwined strands: building the backbone for a digital economy, and digitising the state itself. On the economy side, recent documents describe policies to improve access to finance through digital means, including easing access to international stock markets, online payment gateways and potentially newer instruments like cryptocurrencies, while managing associated risks. There is a clear emphasis on enabling Maldivians to earn from global e-commerce and freelancing platforms, and on creating national online marketplaces where small producers, youth, women, farmers, craftspeople and rural residents can sell products across the country. These platforms are coupled with logistics and delivery mechanisms and with initiatives to channel tourism and hospitality procurement towards local producers through digital matching tools.
SME and entrepreneurship policy is being updated for a digital era: credit schemes, including collateral-free start-up loans and targeted financing for women and creatives, are meant to be paired with incubators, mentorship, and support for adopting technology and meeting international standards. Development corporations and business support entities are tasked with helping MSMEs adopt sustainable practices, build export capacity, and access quality assurance and certification systems, with digital tools and platforms seen as central to that effort.
On the state side, ICT governance reforms are quite detailed. Earlier plans proposed modernising the institutional framework through a Chief Technology Officer role, an Office of the CTO, and a corporatized national data centre, with advisory councils that include business and civil society. Legal and regulatory changes are supposed to cover data privacy, cybersecurity and sector regulation to prepare for a fully digital economy. More recent drafts talk in terms of “Smart Maldives” policies, with reforms to the central ICT agency, clear digitalisation policies and standards, and development of e-government applications across ministries.
Service delivery reforms include a national one-stop help desk for government services, underpinned by common infrastructure and policies, and extensive digitisation and archiving of government documents, images and audiovisual materials. There is a push to ensure high-speed connectivity to all islands (including fibre to the home and 4G/5G coverage) so that online services are actually usable, and to invest in training civil servants to use digital systems. Public financial management and planning reforms reinforce this, with medium-term, results-based budgeting and stronger links between national development plans, priority indicators, and annual budgets, all relying on better data and information systems in line ministries. Together, these policies sketch a state that treats digital infrastructure and skills as basic utilities, and that uses digital tools to reduce fragmentation across sectors.
Governance, Justice, Decentralisation and Anti-Corruption
Rule of law reforms have become a central plank of governance policy. On the criminal justice side, there is a shared orientation towards reducing the use and length of pretrial detention, introducing comprehensive bail mechanisms, and imposing stricter time limits on charging after arrest. Efficiency and fairness are to be improved through case management approaches, continuous hearings, specialised divisions for summary offences and pretrial issues, and better coordination across justice sector institutions. Detention and prison policy aims to bring facilities in line with international standards, reduce overcrowding, and fully implement the legal framework for prisons, including clear standards under instruments like the Mandela Rules and a more decentralised network of correctional facilities.
Access to justice is another focus, with proposals for a criminal compensation regime for wrongful detention or conviction, mechanisms to allow individuals to bring certain complaints directly to court, and stronger victim support and witness protection. Judicial independence and capacity are approached through separate budget lines for the judiciary, investment in infrastructure and technology for courts, judicial service reforms, and continuous professional development and quality control for legal education and the legal profession. At the same time, more specialised prosecutorial capacity is to be developed for complex crimes such as terrorism, with coordinated national mechanisms for investigation and prosecution.
Decentralisation policy reflects a move back towards empowering local councils after periods of re-centralisation. The Decentralisation Act and its amendments establish island, atoll and city councils with mandates over social services, local development and environmental management, and also recognise women’s development committees as formal parts of local governance. Current consensus is that meaningful development requires fiscal decentralisation and clearer powers. That translates into legal reviews to remove contradictions with the decentralisation framework, revisions that allow longer council terms and direct election of mayors, block grants tied to shares of national revenue, and allocation of portions of income from land, lagoons, reefs and islands to councils. Newer plans go further, opening space for councils to establish local authority companies, use assets as collateral, negotiate investment deals, and develop trust or investment funds, while also improving audit coverage, e-monitoring and public reporting to keep local government accountable.
Anti-corruption policy recognises past politicisation and weak enforcement. The agreed direction is to strengthen oversight institutions, update and consolidate the legal framework, pursue asset recovery, and close avenues for corruption in public contracting and SOE operations. Transparency measures include better access to information, publication and verification of asset declarations, and greater openness around large contracts. There is also an attempt to change organisational cultures in the public sector through integrity frameworks, training, and more systematic enforcement of conflict-of-interest rules. Linking back to decentralisation and gender policies, local councils and women’s committees are seen as both potential sites of corruption risk and as important actors in promoting accountable, participatory local governance.
Arts, Culture, National Identity and Community Life
Cultural policy is framed as both preservation and contemporary development. There is a strong concern with protecting tangible and intangible heritage, including historic sites, crafts, performing arts and the Dhivehi language, in the face of globalisation and rapid social change. Policies call for legislative and regulatory frameworks that align with constitutional and international obligations to protect heritage and promote arts and culture, as well as institutional strengthening of culture agencies. At the infrastructure level, plans envisage a network of national, regional and sub-regional cultural centres, museums, galleries, theatres, language labs and archival centres, tied into spatial planning so that cultural facilities are distributed beyond the capital.
These centres are meant to be active spaces: they would host training, exhibitions, film screenings, concerts and theatre, giving artists and practitioners access to adequate venues across the country. Heritage centres, site museums and arts-and-crafts facilities are to be equipped with modern conservation and security systems, reflecting an acceptance that heritage management now requires both technical expertise and investment. Digital infrastructure is part of the culture agenda too, with policies to digitise collections, create online platforms, and ensure that cultural content is accessible, including through disability-inclusive formats like sign language and braille.
Community engagement is woven through these policies. Cultural agencies are tasked with supporting SMEs, NGOs and individual practitioners, creating platforms for them, and providing technical support, while programmes are envisaged to encourage intergenerational exchanges and community-based cultural activities. Libraries are treated as part of this cultural and learning ecosystem, with efforts to expand facilities, strengthen the national library, and promote both physical and digital access, especially for youth. Overall, cultural policy is less about one-off heritage projects and more about building a network of institutions, spaces and digital channels that keep Maldivian identity alive and evolving while linking it to economic opportunities such as creative industries and cultural tourism.
Foreign Policy and International Engagement
Foreign policy is described in remarkably similar terms across political cycles: anchored in multilateralism, focused on economic, environmental and social security, and weighted heavily towards climate diplomacy, democracy and human rights. There is consistent emphasis on using international forums to push for stronger global climate action, reflecting the country’s position as a frontline state, and on aligning with the principles of the UN Charter. At the same time, sovereignty and territorial integrity are repeatedly highlighted as core interests, with foreign policy expected to protect maritime boundaries and support national security through international cooperation.
Regionally, policy prioritises deeper ties with South Asian and Indian Ocean countries, through what some documents describe as an Indian Ocean strategy. This includes security cooperation, economic links, and participation in regional organisations. There is a parallel focus on relations with the broader Islamic world, seeing religious and cultural ties as a basis for political and economic partnerships. Economic and trade diplomacy is to be strengthened so that missions act as platforms for trade, tourism and investment promotion, and for showcasing Maldivian culture abroad.
On the multilateral front, policy commits to active participation in the UN system and groupings like AOSIS and the G77, with the aim of shaping outcomes on climate, development financing, human rights and security in ways that reflect small-state interests. There are also commitments to expand diplomatic representation, professionalise the foreign service through specialised training and academies, and upgrade mission infrastructure. Consular policy focuses on improving services for citizens abroad and building closer ties with diaspora communities. Overall, the consensus foreign policy line is outward-looking and engagement-heavy, using diplomacy both as a shield against existential risks like climate change and as a lever for trade, investment, and domestic policy goals.