Kanni Wignaraja is assistant secretary-general and United Nations Development Programme regional director for Asia and the Pacific. Enrico Gaveglia is UNDP Maldives Resident Representative.
The threat of "disappearing" was furthest from people's everyday worries or development discourse when UNDP, the United Nation's development arm, opened its premises in the Maldives in the 1970s. The country faced other perils, including a cholera epidemic and lack of access to necessities. One of the agency's first moves was deploying the motorboat "Sulha" to reach remote communities, supporting the government in delivering vital supplies and services across the Maldives' 22 atolls.
