EXPLORING GRASSROOTS SOCIAL INNOVATION AND INFORMAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE MALDIVES: A SECONDARY CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS FOR SIDS DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Abstract

The Maldives is a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) that faces institutional capacity constraints, economic vulnerability, and geographic fragmentation. This study explores grassroots social innovation in the Maldives. It examines the emergence of community-led projects to address development issues in livelihoods, education, the environment, and technology access, motivated by necessity, thrift, and digital fluency. This research used a qualitative case study method to look at ten to twelve grassroots projects to analyze their diversity and relevance. The results demonstrate that grassroots social innovation in the Maldives are relatively informal, deeply established in the community, often led by women and young people, and impacted by digital tools and social trust. These programs fill in the gaps in how services are provided by using creativity and making social value as a sort of hybrid entrepreneurship. These projects are doing well even though the government doesn't officially support them. This is because people want to contribute, and the ideas are important to their culture. They must, however, balance formalization and autonomy, scale and local authenticity, and community priorities with outside funding. The research challenges traditional development frameworks that ignore bottom-up resilience and contributes to theoretical discussions on informal entrepreneurship and grassroots innovation in SIDS. To better localize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it advocates for policy support that integrates grassroots voices into national development planning, fortifies digital and social infrastructure, and legitimizes informal innovation ecosystems.