This is a digital, living publication. It is meant to be read in pieces, reused in meetings, and updated over time as ideas mature, evidence changes, or politics shifts.
The writing here comes in different forms because different policy problems need different formats.
- Policy briefs that lay out a problem, a direction, and an implementable path
- Policy tools like templates, draft bills, SOPs, and operational frameworks
- Scorecard-style analyses that make incentives, constraints, and execution risks explicit
- Short research notes that answer one narrow question with a repeatable method
- Discussion essays that try to move public understanding and decision-maker instincts
- Summary analyses that set context so the briefs are not floating on their own
Use the sidebar to jump by theme and by article. Each piece stands alone, but the sections are curated so reading a few items in sequence gives you a coherent view.
How the scorecards and “scores” work
Some briefs use a CIVIC–SCOPE structure. The point is to make policy execution legible early rather than late.
- Context: the real-world situation and why the issue persists
- Interests: who benefits from the status quo, who pays the costs, and who will resist or support change
- Vision: the end-state in plain terms, not a slogan
- Incentives: what could make this work inside real institutions and real behaviour
- Challenges: friction points that will shape what is possible
A challenge score (1–5 across categories) is not a “good vs bad” rating. It is a quick signal of where implementation pain will concentrate, so planners can staff, sequence, and budget realistically. A high score often means the policy needs a different strategy, a pilot-first approach, heavier sequencing, or more political cover.
How to use this publication
Most readers come with a job to do.
- If you are short on time, read the section introductions and the first page of the briefs you care about.
- If you are preparing a cabinet paper or a ministerial pitch, pull the Vision, Incentives, and the first action steps.
- If you are building a program, start with the brief, then jump to the Policy Tools linked to it.
- If you are trying to shift public debate, start with To Drive Discussion and the AI discussion set.
This publication also assumes feedback. Where you disagree, the most useful feedback is specific. What is wrong, what is missing, what is politically unrealistic, what has an easier path.
Economic Diversification
Economic diversification and decentralization
A framing piece about why “more sectors” is not enough if the geography of opportunity stays locked in one place. It argues for diversification that also changes where jobs and investment land, so the atolls gain real economic gravity.
Hanimaadhoo airport
A proposal to use Hanimaadhoo as a second engine of growth by targeting regional travel expansion and budget travel demand. It focuses on positioning, route economics, and spillovers that can pull private investment into the north.
Remote work visa program
A design for a long-stay remote work visa that attracts high-income earners while sending spending into inhabited islands rather than concentrating pressure in Greater Malé. It treats the visa as a clear product with simple criteria, fast digital processing, and guardrails against predictable harms.
Remote office spaces to islands
A model for island-based remote office spaces that let Malé-based firms hire nationwide without forcing workers to migrate. It centers reliability, standards, supervision, and a pilot-first rollout that earns trust through performance.
3D printing and CNC mini-factories
A case for public-access digital fabrication hubs that reduce downtime from imported spare parts and build local repair and prototyping capacity. It is explicit about limits, where certification matters, and why the program should begin with a narrow set of high-value use cases.
Housing & Livable Cities
Housing is everything
An argument that housing scarcity is not only a housing problem. It links overcrowding to family stress, distorted labour choices, and political patronage, then pushes for a supply-first approach with transparent allocation and clear delivery capacity.
Third spaces, vibrant cities
A practical case for building social infrastructure through third spaces, including cafes, libraries, community venues, and low-cost programming. It treats vibrancy as something you can plan and fund in small repeatable ways.
Cities built for human beings
A plan for reclaiming Malé from vehicle dominance through transit, enforcement, buybacks, and street redesign. It stresses sequencing, backlash management, and making alternatives real before restricting parking.
Space usage by street parking in Malé City
A short study that shows how street width is consumed by parking and how that blocks a human-scale city. It is meant to make the space trade-off visible with a method that can be repeated and expanded.
Improved public transport routes in Malé City
A focused set of route improvements that treats Malé–Hulhumalé transport as real city transit rather than a terminal-to-terminal shuttle. It emphasizes small network changes that unlock ridership gains by putting stops where people actually live, work, and transfer.
Simple estimation of greenery in Malé City
A lightweight method to estimate greenery coverage using satellite imagery and manual correction, built for teams without expensive tools. It ties greenery to heat stress and liveability and frames this as a measurable policy target.
Social Policies
Quality education for everyone
A proposal to make flagship atoll schools strong enough to reverse the education-driven migration pull into Malé. It focuses on leadership, teacher conditions, specialised streams, and a status shift that makes the atolls a first-choice option.
Strong focus on basic numeracy
An argument that a narrow set of foundational math skills is load-bearing for life outcomes, productivity, and fairness. It pushes a national “guarantee” mindset with better pedagogy, shared materials, and targeted remediation so gaps do not become permanent.
Technology & Governance
AI “Policy Discussion Essays”
Intro to LLMs for policymakers
A plain-language explanation of what modern AI systems are, with a focus on large language models and why they behave the way they do. It aims to build practical judgment about what to trust, what to verify, and how to evaluate AI proposals.
Human rules in an AI world
A blueprint for policy responses to deepfakes, algorithmic decision-making, and evidence integrity. It frames AI governance around dignity, justice, and state capacity, not only technology adoption.
Resilient & self-reliant
A shift from efficiency-first governance to an operating model built for continuity under shocks. It lays out strategic depth, buffers, decentralized contingency capacity, and the trade-offs of paying for preparedness before crisis hits.
Cleaning up politics
A diagnosis of how high campaign costs and patronage dynamics can drive corruption and fiscal waste. It pushes reforms that change incentives through transparency, constraints, and enforcement rather than moral appeals.
Digitalization with purpose
A plan to stop building government as a patchwork of disconnected portals and vendor contracts. It argues for a unified digital stack, clear data standards, and a high-skill central delivery unit that can execute across ministries.
Summary Analyses
Trends over the next 15 years
A consolidated view of major global shifts likely to shape Maldives policy space, from geopolitics and supply chains to climate adaptation and technology. It is meant as background for stress-testing national priorities.
Preparing for the unknown
A framework for thinking about low-probability, high-impact events and how government should plan under uncertainty. It treats preparedness as a repeatable habit rather than a one-off document.
Current policy consensus in the Maldives
A map of mainstream policy thinking across major sectors, written as a working overview of where agreement is real and where it is assumed. It is meant to be corrected and sharpened through feedback.
Overview of international best practices
A curated scan of widely cited best-practice ideas across policy areas, with short explanations and pointers for deeper reading. It is meant as inspiration, not a claim that these can be copied without adaptation.
Policy Tools
This section is meant to be used, not admired. These are practical documents that help shorten the path from “policy idea” to something a ministry, council, or agency can actually run.
The tools fall into a few categories:
- Operational templates (SOPs, workflows, checklists) that clarify roles and day-to-day execution
- Legal and policy instruments (draft bills, clauses, standard agreements) that make a policy implementable in text
- Program materials (forms, brochures, guidance notes) that can be issued to the public or partner institutions
- Standards and service levels that make delivery measurable, enforceable, and repeatable
How to use them:
- Treat each tool as a starting draft. It should be adapted to the responsible agency’s systems and legal style.
- Use the tools to speed up early momentum. A clean first draft often matters more than a perfect concept note.
- Where possible, pair a tool with a brief. The brief explains intent and trade-offs, while the tool gets you into execution.
To Drive Discussion
Treating climate as a crisis
A sharp argument about what climate strategy should look like when the stakes are framed as national survival. It pushes for action that matches the stated urgency, including diplomacy, leverage, and concrete survival policy rather than symbolic measures.
Health policy issues of the future
A case for proactive health policy that absorbs new evidence faster than the system currently does. It proposes an agenda that anticipates future burdens and prevents harm early, from service models to medicine and regulation.
Pro-social policy for a healthy society
A case that social trust, shared norms, and everyday behaviour are policy-relevant. It focuses on what government can shape through design, education, and credible leadership without turning it into empty moralizing.
About Public Policy Lab
This section is the “why us” and “how to work with us” part of the publication. It is meant for government teams, partners, and institutions that want to understand what the Lab does and how to engage.
- Who we are: what kind of work Public Policy Lab prioritizes and what standards it uses
- The Policy Lab team: authorship and expertise, so readers know who to contact
- Services: what the Lab can provide, from brief production to program support
- Product catalogue: repeatable offerings and formats that institutions can request
- Annual report: transparency about what was done, what changed, and what is next