Female entrepreneurship plays a critical role in achieving economic diversification, sustainable economy, and sustainable development, not only in economic terms but also in social and environmental dimensions. Women are considered excellent and relentless custodians of their families, their surroundings, and society. However, in many countries, particularly in resource-rich and developing states, there are considerably limited opportunities and barriers for women to utilize their utmost capacities. Considering the historical development trajectory and learning from several past and benchmark examples, mainly from the entrepreneurship domain, we first developed a conceptual model to deliver a holistic strategy for policymaking and implementation by employing design and systems thinking approaches. Second, based on this conceptual model, we proposed an integrated policy framework for Qatar, as a resource-rich country in the quest of transforming into an innovation-driven, knowledge-based sustainable development to propel women’s entrepreneurship and increase their involvement in achieving economic diversification, and thus, sustainable development in a broader perspective. Third, we conducted a survey to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed policy framework. Results reveal that surveyed aspiring and actual female entrepreneurs maintain the relevance of the suggested policies related to the provision of further local training and mentorship programs and subsidies and funds from the government. Furthermore, while female participants agree that their entrepreneurial practices need to abide by local cultural traditions and trends, they believe there is a supplementary need to spread awareness of and garner support for their social and economic contribution to the society. Finally, findings show that several female participants, mainly Qatari nationals, are willing to become entrepreneurial investors to help fund other entrepreneurship startups to partner with other women and give back to society and contribute to the overall sustainability of their community.

Education is considered the primary driver of sustainable development. Teachers play a critical role in the conjunction of ideal, designed, and actual teaching and learning experience delivery. Successful education plays a crucial role in accomplishing the UN Sustainable Development goals (SDGs). Therefore, this research focused on the better preparation of teachers to deliver high-quality education for achieving SDGs in Qatar. To this end, this study investigated teachers’ development needs, including their professional preparation, empowerment, and assessment, by employing semi-structured interviews in selected schools. In summary, the findings show a lack of professional development (PD) opportunities, and the current PD approaches have no direction, purpose, or progress. The results also demonstrate that objective and customized assessment methods, a clear and robust career roadmap, and career promotions accordingly would increase teachers’ motivation for their, and thus students’, development. In addition, only a few teachers are aware of the SDGs and their connections with education. Therefore, there is a need to raise their level of understanding and motivation by preparing them with the right set of skills and tools and paying attention to the teachers’ development as a whole at school, society, and policy levels.

Human development plays a profound role in achieving sustainable development, by utilizing the power of well-educated blue- and white-collar laborers, academics, politicians, and people from every layer of society and the economy. However, there is no single path for human development. Planning, designing, and implementing policies for human development require country-specific approaches, based on unique characteristics such as historical development trajectories, future goals, the commitment of leadership, culture, geography, and climate, to name a few. Such strategies become even further challenging for countries that aim to achieve radical transformations from resource-based to innovation-driven and knowledge-based economies, to achieve sustainable development. In this study, a conceptual model for a holistic human development strategy in line with sustainable economic development was first designed by employing design and systems thinking approaches. Second, under the guidance of this conceptual model, an integrated policy framework for Qatar is proposed to propel the quality and quantity of human capital to achieve economic diversification and, thus, sustainable development. Third, semi-structured interviews with experts and decision-makers in relevant fields were conducted to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed policy framework. As a proof-of-concept, the interview results validated—but were not limited to—the following outcomes. First, the proposed conceptual model has considerable potential to deliver robust, feasible, and effective policies from the initiation to the implementation of strategy development. Second, selectively recruiting highly skilled expatriate professionals under progressive residency policies provides incentives for them to become long-term residents. This would attract global human capital to complement the aim of economic diversification, a sustainable economy, and human development goals. Third, carefully designed university-industry-government partnerships and technical training programs will enable the development of appropriate innovation, professional, and business skills in the local population and facilitate economic diversification goals. Finally, empowering female entrepreneurs and investors will increase women’s empowerment while accelerating economic diversification—and, thus, sustainable development.