In her first media interview since becoming head of UN-Habitat, the U.N.’s lead agency on cities, Maimunah Mohd Sharif said that urbanization is much more than building skyscrapers. 

“Urbanization is a process”, she told Thomson Reuters Foundation, and one that can improve lives. She described her ideal outcome as one where both urban and rural areas have access to the same facilities, be it schools or healthcare, so that all stakeholders can enjoy a good quality of life.

Speaking at the Ninth World Urban Forum, which opened in the Malaysian capital on 7 February, the former mayor of Penang Island and a career town planner addressed her agency’s difficulties in attracting funding from national governments. So far, the Nairobi-based agency has received just $2.5 million of its recent, two-year $45 million budget. 

“I’m just trying to build back the confidence of the donors,” Sharif said, adding that preliminary meetings have been promising.