Maldives Parliament keeps legislative wheels turning with Microsoft Teams

The People’s Majlis in session online via Microsoft Teams (Photo Credit: People’s Majlis)

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 14 April 2020 – Eighty
seven lawmakers in one of the world’s smallest and most remote countries — the
Indian Ocean island nation of the Maldives — are conducting virtual online
parliamentary sessions with the help of Microsoft 365, including Microsoft
Teams, as their country battles the COVID-19 outbreak.

The lawmakers are using Microsoft Teams video
conferencing technology, instead of physically being present at the parliament
house, known as the People’s Majlis, in the capital, Malé. The sessions are also
being broadcasted on television in real time, as well as on social media.

“Parliaments worldwide cannot just stop representing
their people during this crisis. The institutions of democracy must continue to
function. The Maldivian Parliament will go on, meeting online, and all its work
will continue unimpeded,” said the Speaker and former President, Mohamed
Nasheed, who chairs sessions from the now empty People’s Majlis.

The
legislature had first adopted this solution in January 2019 as a tool for
collaboration, due to its security features and its wide capabilities. In light
of the COVID-19 situation, lawmakers have moved to fully use Teams for virtual
sessions starting on March 30. On Teams, they can interact in real-time while
maintaining social distancing and self-isolation safely at home, all in the
knowledge that their virtual interactions are secure.            

Tech
One Sanje, a local Microsoft partner, helped the People’s Majlis with the right
tools to enable this solution. Its team members were also operating in a
work-from-home mode and had to do the Teams set-up by remotely collaborating
with parliamentary IT staff.

The
Maldives is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, southwest of India. It has 26
coral atolls and a population of around 538,000.

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as well as the market and language availability of the new features we
announced, visit
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coming to Microsoft 365 business and Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise plans,
visit this page
here.

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