The World Bank mission, consisting of Mr. Jerome Bezzina, Senior Digital Development Specialist at the World Bank and Task Team Leader for the D’MADD Project, Mr. Seth Ayers from the World Bank, and Mr. Aditya Agrawal and Mr. Shivam Kishore, visiting Consultants from D4D Insights, concluded a meeting with key government agencies. The mission took place from January 20th to January 23rd, 2025.

The first meeting was held with the National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT) on January 21, 2025. Minister of State for Homeland Security and Technology, Dr. Mohamed Kinaanath, Deputy Minister Mr. Abdulla Hussain, Deputy Minister Mr. Abdulla Anees, IT Executive Mr. Hussain Shifau, Senior Software Engineer Mr. Hany Nasyr, and Senior Government Digital Specialist Mr. Hussain Naushad joined the meeting. The discussions with NCIT revolved around data privacy and protection, as well as data sovereignty, and hosting the data-sharing platform on the national data Centre. NCIT updated its current work on new policies that NCIT is developing to standardize IT services within the government. State Minister Dr. Kinaanath also highlighted the Data Privacy Bill and the proposed data protection authority to be established under the act. The team also made queries regarding the system's architecture and technical requirements, which will help NCIT conduct resource planning.

Dr. Waheed highlighted the role of NCIT in supporting the maintenance and further development of such systems for the government, enabling relevant agencies to effectively leverage these resources.

The second meeting was held with the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment, and Energy on January 22, 2025.

The Permanent Secretary, Mr. Ajwad Musthafa, led the Ministry’s team. Other members include Mr. Sobah Rasheed (Assistant Director), Umaira Ahmed (Assistant Director), Muhusina Abdul Rahman (Director of Protected Areas), Midhath AbdulRasheed (Policy Communications Strategist), Riffath Naeem (EPA), and Afsal Hussain (Director).

Mr. Jerome Bezzina introduced work under component three of the D’MADD project to the new participants, while Mr. Seth Ayers briefed the team on the scope of this assignment.

The D4D team presented their findings based on the two workshops on the proposed climate data-sharing platform and displayed the roadmap developed through the exercise.

The Permanent Secretary Ajwad Musthafa explained that organizations are at different levels when it comes to data collection and noted that some departments lack digital platforms to manage environmental data. He also added that regular data collection was minimal to nonexistent, and the ministry must seek data collected across other offices, such as the Maldives Bureau of Statistics.

The ministry emphasized the importance of accessibility to the platform as most data will be coming from the islands, and connecting the councils has been a challenge. Dr. Waheed highlighted the SDWAN project, which is also being implemented through the D’MADD project and will complement the connectivity requirements highlighted by the Ministry for accessibility.

The ministry also highlighted the lack of dedicated staff within the Ministry as well as the councils to collect and record data effectively.

Furthermore, the Ministry also noted that many of the previously developed databases and portals did not function as intended due to a lack of proper maintenance support after the projects were handed over. They suggested mechanisms to keep an in-house team, or NCIT should maintain the system after the project closes. Dr. Waheed added that this key point was also presented to the NCIT officials.

The third meeting was the wrap-up meeting held with the Ministry of Finance and Planning the same day. Mr. Mohamed Yammai, Chief Resource Mobilization Executive, and Mr. Auzam, Resource Mobilization Analyst, joined the meeting. The World Bank mission team briefed on the findings from the workshop and presented the formulated workshop.

Dr. Ibrahim Waheed emphasized the importance of post-implementation support for such initiatives, particularly when the project support period comes to an end. He highlighted that the climate data platform could be a pivotal asset for future government financial planning, eliminating resource duplication, especially when it comes to implementing software systems. He referred to the issue of organizations building similar and identical platforms that were identified during the stakeholder engagements.

The Ministry of Finance also noted the importance of coordination and agreed to support the project’s vision.

Dr. Waheed concluded the meeting by providing an update on the current progress of the remaining components within the D’MADD project.

Project Manager Dr. Ibrahim Waheed and Mr. Ahmed Haleem, Communications Specialist, participated in the meetings.