Beyond Victims #2026 - Bhutan & Maldives Edition
Our fifth edition of Beyond Victims 2026 Series brings you stories of inspiring women political leaders from Bhutan and the Maldives.
Dive in to read stories of Dr Aishath Shiham, Dr Mariyam Shakeela, Kinley Zangmo, Sonam Pelzom & Tshewang Lhamo.
Dr. Aishath Shiham
(Former Cabinet Minister & Counselling Psychologist, Maldives)
As Education Minister, she led the "No Child Left Behind" policy to target low pass rates by creating multiple pathways for students. . She initiated dedicated Special Education Needs (SEN) units across various outer atolls to provide localized support for students with learning differences.
As Minister of Social and Family Development, she led the launch of the National Action Plan on Disability Inclusion and oversaw the creation of 100+ dedicated employment opportunities through the state's Empowerment Hub. She launched the National Development Screening Tool to help parents and educators systematically track developmental milestones and identify delays in early childhood. Furthermore, she expanded community-based social protection groups (IBAMA) across the atolls to locate and immediately assist vulnerable families.
- Multiple Sources
Dr. Mariyam Shakeela
(Former Cabinet Minister & Corporate Executive, Maldives)
Shakeela took direct administrative action to build its operational, statutory, and regulatory framework to a newly created Ministry of Environment and Energy. She also institutionalised the regulatory boundaries of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Maldives Energy Authority.
As Minister of Health and Gender, she executed major structural adjustments designed to streamline social welfare tracking, engineering the operational separation of the National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) and the National Drug Agency from localised ministry political capture.
- Multiple Sources
Kinley Zangmo
(Grassroots Political Leader, Bhutan)
By shifting local administration toward greater inclusivity, she established trackable town hall consultation processes that directly brought rural women into the local budget mapping of the village block, ensuring equitable distribution of municipal resources for maternal health and agrarian tools.
Furthermore, as a Mangmi (elected public representative), Zangmo executed vital statutory judicial and executive duties, primarily chairing local dispute resolution and arbitration committees. Moving past passive mediation, she actively streamlined the handling of complex boundary and multi-generational land tenure conflicts among regional farmers. Her strict application of the Local Government Act of Bhutan significantly reduced the necessity for rural households to undergo expensive and prolonged legal litigation at the district court level, setting a benchmark for efficient, village-level legal relief.
- Multiple Sources
Sonam Pelzom
(Member of the National Council, Bhutan)
Her intervention in centralised resource distribution models led the parliament to adjust its economic resource allocation frameworks, directing state funds specifically toward smallholder agricultural infrastructure and local connectivity to mitigate eastern rural flight.
Pelzom transitioned local campaign promises into binding administrative metrics, holding federal line ministries accountable for the actual delivery of drinking water systems, rural health clinics, and specialised educational resources across isolated eastern mountain communities transforming the upper house platform into a direct mechanism for grassroots civic defense.
- Multiple Sources
Tshewang Lhamo
(Former MP & Legislative Committee Chair)
As Chairperson of the Legislative Committee, she introduced the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2019 that ultimately led to decriminalising homosexuality, and led statutory committee reviews across the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill 2020, Fiscal Incentives Amendment Bill, and Tobacco Control Act revisions to halt black-market smuggling during COVID-19. She also successfully advocated for withdrawing the Impeachment Procedure Bill 2019 to prevent constitutional instability, while pushing executive agencies to dismantle rigid post-prison cooling periods for former offenders.
- Multiple Sources
Project Manager: Riya Hira
Contributors: Shashwat Shukla & Riya Hira
Edited by: Akhil Neelam & Sugandha Parmar
Design: Riya Hira
Template: Vida Seraphina (https://vidaseraphina.dk/)
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