Welcome to the Institute of Small Island Agriculture (ISIA).
ISIA was established in 2024 by five professionals with extensive experience in sustainable development. We are Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed, Dr. Aminath Shafia, Dr. Paul Van Driessche MBE, Ms. Aishath Shifana, and Mr. Abdulla Ali, and we all live and work in the Maldives. Together, we provide a range of technical expertise covering policy input, programming, environmental management, resource mobilization, and project management. We specialize in addressing areas such as agroecology, climate-smart agriculture, food system transformation, and marine and terrestrial biodiversity conservation, particularly from the perspective of small island development.
Using our knowledge and backgrounds, we are dedicated to contributing to the formulation of national agricultural policies and strengthening the capacity of farming communities through a transformative food systems approach.
ISIA will focus on four fully costed work packages covering a ten-year research cycle. These are:
Work Package 1: Knowledge Exchange Programme
Work Package 2: Biodiversity Inventory & Interaction Networks
Work Package 3: Soil/Substrate Chemistry and Microbiology
Work Package 4: Macro and Micro-Climate Monitoring and Modelling
The work packages will enhance food security, particularly in the Maldives, where we are based. We anticipate that our research and capacity-building efforts will empower small, medium-sized, and larger food producers through resource mobilization, education, and knowledge transfer. This will ultimately lead to safer food production and reduced food imports.
We envisage a high degree of replicability in the work packages for other Small Island States and those communities constrained by the determinants of smallness and isolation.
About ISIA
We would like to share why ISIA was formed, what it hopes to achieve, and how it hopes to deliver positive outcomes for Maldivian farmers.
We like to think that ISIA is at the sharp end of sustainable development, where commercial rationale, practical application, science-based options, and context-driven solutions are inculcated into our research agenda. This will blend local agricultural practices with appropriate science and technology investments in knowledge dissemination, capacity development, and targeted research. As a result, the local food system will be enhanced, profits for farmers will be optimised, and a pathway to financial sustainability will emerge; this is a core consideration for island farming communities.
Environmental and sociocultural sustainability are of equal consideration. Good stewardship of soils and water, along with natural vegetation and coastlines, is vital to protect terrestrial/marine biodiversity and utilise nature-based solutions for crop challenges such as pest infestation. Similarly, sustainable sociocultural farming models are also critical for food systems to succeed, where cognizance is taken of the sociocultural island construct. In the Maldives, evidence suggests that this favours individualistic and family farming models over formalised organisations such as cooperatives. For example, cooperatives acting as financial intermediaries between farmers and the markets have had mixed outcomes.
ISIA acknowledges that improved national food security needs to be driven by increased production quantities, greater varieties, improved farming practices, and comparable product quality and pricing to that which is currently imported. We believe these drivers best reside in the private sector, supported by local institutions and their donor partners. ISIA will work together with all agricultural and associated stakeholders to provide inputs into regulation, legislation, policy, programme design, and project implementation. Peer-reviewed journal articles will catalogue much of this involvement and will seek to stimulate discussion on future farming models for the Maldives.
Meet the team
We have known each other professionally and as friends for many years and can comfortably draw on each other’s skills for guidance, input, and support. Together, we form a new, dynamic team blessed with critical thinking, counterintuitive thought, technical capability, determination, humour, and a passion to deliver what we know is possible for the Maldives. Here is a snapshot of each of us.
Dr Ibrahim Mohamed
Ibrahim is an environmental social science expert specialising in climate change adaptation, environmental management, and policy development. Much of Ibrahim's work includes advancing community participation in environmental stewardship through education and policy. He is currently working with the Ministry of Finance and Planning on a World Bank funded project as an Environment and Social Safeguards Specialist. Ibrahim is a PhD graduate in Environmental Science from James Cook University, Australia.
Dr Aminath Shafia
Shafia is a food systems specialist with a focus on mitigating the impacts of climate change on island agroecology. Shafia has extensive institutional experience and has held multiple portfolios across the agricultural and fisheries sectors. She has played a significant role in resource mobilization for agricultural development by working with local institutions and international organisations. She has studied in world-renowned universities and holds a PhD in Plant Science from the University of Reading, UK.
Dr Paul Van Driessche MBE
Paul provides technical input into agricultural policy, planning, and project implementation for institutions and the private sector. He specialises in commercialization strategies where production gains can be effectively linked to expanding markets. Paul has a keen interest in qualitative research methodologies, particularly phenomenological lines of enquiry. He has a PhD in Environmental Policy from Imperial College London and was a Visiting Researcher at Imperial College from 2019 to 2021. Paul has extensive experience operating in the Maldives. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-stories/dr-paul-van-driessche/
Ms Aishath Shifana
Shifana holds an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business and is a Certified Practicing Project Director and Registered Project Manager, accredited by the Australian Institute of Project Management. She is a highly accomplished professional with over 23 years of experience across diverse sectors in the Maldives. Her expertise lies in project formulation, organizational management, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Shifana has led the monitoring and evaluation teams for numerous government projects and worked closely with various ministries’ project implementation teams. Her work spans a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, fisheries, environmental waste management, and public health. She currently serves as the Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor for an international telecommunications company based in the Maldives.
Mr Abdulla Ali
Abdulla is an economist working with the Asian Development Bank, coordinating a range of programmes from waste management to climate change mitigation and adaptation in coastal zones. Abdulla provides specialist input into thematic areas including public-private partnerships, resource mobilization, and debt management. He is a Fulbright Master’s scholar in Economics from Eastern Michigan University and a Chevening Master’s scholar in Public Policy from the London School of Economics.