ATIQAH NADIAH ZAILANI
Deciding to do something is the easy part.
I work on everything after — helping teams and institutions move from ambition to execution on sustainability, development, and policy challenges that are genuinely hard to get done.
About
I work on the gap between intention and reality: the part where something important needs to happen and nobody is quite sure how. I get called in when priorities haven't become a plan, or a plan hasn't become action, or action has quietly stalled. I've done this across sustainability, development, and policy, from community programmes to national policy to multi-country systems, across Malaysia, Africa, and beyond.
Selected Work
K2K Public Housing Community Transformation
Think City, Malaysia
From standstill to progress: restoring momentum and structuring the transition to scale
Global Future Cities Programme
UN-Habitat, Malaysia
Translating global sustainability commitments into city-level plans that could actually be implemented.
Enviu Zero Waste Living Lab
Enviu, Indonesia & Netherlands
Building the tools to make sustainability impact measurable, comparable, and actionable.
Ethiopian Education Sector Transformation
Ministry of Education, Ethiopia
Turning a national strategy into a functioning delivery system across 11 regions.
Tanzania Big Results Now
President's Delivery Bureau, Tanzania
Embedding implementation discipline at the highest levels of government.
Malaysia Year of Healthcare Travel
MHTC, Malaysia
When the plan became impossible overnight, we rebuilt it and delivered anyway.
Testimonials
“Atiqah has a strong ability to problem solve, structuring a solution and bringing together the team to deliver on it. She is the most effective and reliable team member I have worked with in the last 15 years.”
Premala Ponnusamy
Regional Delivery Lead, Delivery Associates, United Kingdom
“We were struggling with implementation obstacles arising from the complexity of the programme, and I needed someone to help restore momentum and structure its path forward. She was the person I called. What struck me immediately was how quickly she was able to read the situation, restore operational clarity, and start moving things forward — without losing sight of the community dimension that makes K2K what it is. She was able to grasp the operational complexity and the human reality of the work at the same time.”
Dr. Shahridan Faiez
Director, ThinkCity, Malaysia
“Atiqah was the real engine of the team — deep expertise, a supportive approach, and the flexibility to understand and act on local context. Now I think we are on the right track, and this is because of her effort.”
H.E. Mohammed Ahmedia
State Minister, Ministry of Education, Ethiopia
“Her contribution to our Education Sector was strong enough that I moved her to Business Development — a completely different domain with its own distinct political and institutional complexities. She navigated both with the same rigour and sensitivity. When I was later asked to lead the UN Education Commission workshop in Kenya, Atiqah was the person I called. That should demonstrate the confidence I have in her work.”
Omari Issa
Chief Executive Officer, President’s Delivery Bureau, Tanzania
Organisations I’ve Worked With
Get in Touch
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