Work with our Managing Director
In addition to firm-level engagements, we can work individually with those seeking policy expertise in the Maldives or the Asia-Pacific region.
Zayaan Shaafiu is the Managing Director of Public Policy Lab. He has worked across a wide range of policy areas, including economic policy, health, social protection, information policy, housing policy, urbanism and livability, urbanization and decentralization, education, electoral politics and governance, community enrichment and third spaces, family policy, gender equality and child protection, infrastructure and connectivity, financial inclusion, and labour and workplace rights — as well as integration of AI into workflows, development of data collection and usability frameworks, building monitoring and evaluation systems, public administration and service delivery, and policy implementation.
Selected work
As a consultant, he has worked with UNDP in the development process of the Strategic Action Plan with a focus on economic sectors; been the Lead Researcher and author for the Cost of Politics in the Maldives project by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy; and supported the Ministry of Social and Family Development in the establishment of project-based workplan systems, policy capacity development, and data collection frameworks. Following the publication of the Cost of Politics report, the government announced plans for electoral reforms that matched key recommendations proposed in the document [link].
In work with the Ministry of Social and Family Development, he leads capacity-building initiatives such as compiling disparate research and reporting into indexed portals for evidence-based policymaking, developing modelling tools for policy construction and design, adapting surveys and data collection to better data usability practices, detailed geographical mapping of social service providers to model access to care, development of AI-integrated policy workflows, and more.
Director, President's Office
As Director at the President's Office in the Special Programs Unit for presidentially prioritized projects, he led the development of data collection mechanisms and the autonomisation and performance enhancement programs for tertiary hospitals and the development of regional hospitals. In this capacity he was responsible for:
- Developing comprehensive daily data collection from central hospitals, regional hospitals, and 55 islands over hundreds of key indicators, with weekly reports for the President and senior officials.
- Data-supported performance measures resulting in a 70% reduction of specialist waitlists and reduction of psychiatry waitlists from 18 months to 2 months.
- Leading the training of data analysts, including at the first public hospital analytics unit in the Maldives at Dr Abdul Samad Memorial Hospital.
- Introduction of teleconsultation services to 55 island health centres — now covering a range of specialist services for patients in geographically remote islands.
- Hospital developments including child development centres and reproductive health centres; writing and designing the Decentralisation and Autonomisation Report.
Other experience
He has also worked within the private sector and tourism industry, including development of investor prospectuses for guesthouses and island locations seeking foreign investment; worked on data-based modelling and forecasting of economic indicators at the Modelling and Forecasting Section of the Maldives Monetary Authority — where he developed the research base and indicator set for national financial inclusion and worked on the design of unified financial inclusion proposals that evolved into the national e-payments program; and been an analyst on studies of occupational health and safety in the Maldives for the Public Interest Law Centre.
Education
Zayaan holds a Master's degree in Applied Economics and Policy from the University of Windsor, with research on modelling systems to identify high-value, high-likelihood donors for nonprofits to improve fundraising targeting. He also holds dual Bachelor's degrees in Economics and in Teaching (major in Politics and International Studies) from the University of Adelaide, receiving the Excellence Award as first in class for Development Economics and Public Economics.