Decent Life Initiative and Sustainable Development Goals: A Systems Thinking Approach

Abstract

Decent Life is a presidential initiative that was launched in Egypt in the year 2019. The initiative targets complex problems facing underprivileged villages in Egypt. This paper uses a systems thinking approach to gain a holistic view of the initiative dimensions and address the interlinkages between these dimensions from the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper used a causal loop diagram (CLD) as a visualization of the systems thinking approach to analyze the interactions and interlinkage between all the components of the system. The Decent Life Initiative works on improving economic, social, and environmental infrastructures, which are related to SDGs. To achieve the initiative’s goals effectively, this paper suggests working under the umbrella of three important factors: Raising awareness, adopting technology, and putting in place supportive policies and legislations. Finally, the paper suggests using system dynamics as a quantitative method, which uses stock-flow diagrams, to measure the impacts of the initiative on the achievement of the SDGs in Egypt.

1. Introduction

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [1]. While, in practice, continued economic growth is accompanied by positive social impacts, it usually comes with environmental unsustainability [2,3]. In its annual report in 2008, the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK government mentioned that “future growth will also need to be environmentally sustainable. Improved management of water and other natural resources is required, together with movement towards low carbon technologies by both developed and developing countries” [4]. Also, improved environmental management is needed to tackle resource scarcity and climate change [1,5]. Quality of life (QOL) is defined as “an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns”. The concept of QOL is broad and composed of numerous domains, including the physical, psychological, social, family, and environmental domains [2].

Developing countries, particularly the least-developed countries, will be among those most adversely affected and least able to cope with the anticipated shocks to their social, economic, and natural systems [3]. The World Energy Outlook report (2020) shows that there is strong economic evidence for renewable energy, which is not only more cost-competitive and affordable than fossil fuel alternatives but also it is more resilient to economic and geopolitical shocks. Decision-makers often make strategic decisions without considering the full life cycle and wider environmental, social, and economic impacts. This means that it can lead to unintended trade-offs between environmental, social, and economic concerns, hindering progress toward sustainable development [6,7].

Systems thinking is a way of understanding the complex problems and contexts that characterize the world today by looking at the whole and the relationships between parts rather than dividing the problem into parts. It is used to explore and develop effective actions in complex contexts and can contribute to a desired outcome, by understanding how the relationships between different parts affect each other within the larger system, and then intervening with actions that change these effects both by enhancing positive effects and minimizing negative effects.

The World Bank used systems thinking to develop a model of the global economy [8]. This model is used to predict the impact of different policies on poverty and inequality. The United Nations Environment Program used systems thinking to develop a model of the global climate system [9]. This model is used to predict the impact of climate change on different regions of the world, and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation used systems thinking to develop a program to improve the health of mothers and children in developing countries [10]. This program considers the interconnected factors that affect their health, such as poverty, education, and access to healthcare. In [11], the authors use a systems thinking approach to study the value of preserving connectivity within a socio-ecological system (SES).

The paper uses the systems thinking approach since it is the most suitable methodology to understand the relationship between components that represent this complex system, and their overall impact on system outcomes. The paper tried to answer the main question: How do we benefit from using the systems thinking approach to maximize the impact of the Decent Life Initiative in achieving SDGs?

The paper is organized as follows: After the introduction, Section 2 includes a background of the Decent Life Initiative, its targets, and its relation to the SDGs. Section 3 demonstrates the qualitative method that is used to analyze this complex system. The main results are presented in Section 4. Then, Section 5 discusses the results of this paper. Finally, Section 6 concludes the paper and shows the limitations and future work.

2. Decent Life Initiative

The Decent Life Initiative aims to develop 4500 underprivileged villages in Egypt, which will improve the lives of approximately 60 million Egyptians. Its first phase started in 2019 with 375 villages in 14 different governorates. The Decent Life Initiative is an integrated initiative that involves more than 20 ministries and agencies and 23 civil society organizations, along with Egyptian youth volunteers [4]. It targets families in need, seniors, people with disabilities, female breadwinners and divorced women, orphans, and children, as well as unemployed youth able to work.

Egyptian villagers represent approximately 57.8% of the total population [5]. Agricultural activity dominates the Egyptian rural community, but the low economic returns to agriculture, the high cost of production inputs, a scarcity of investment ratios, and the low quality of education, resulted in a high rate of youth migration to cities to seek jobs [12]. Villages included in the first phase of the initiative have very high poverty rates and suffer from underdevelopment in education services, medical services, shortage in sanitation services, and supply of clean water and electricity. In addition, overpopulation particularly in poorer areas is a major problem that significantly reduces the impact of development efforts.

For decades, Egyptian rural areas have suffered from being ignored in development, which increases the gap between rural and urban areas. The Income, Expenditure, and Consumption Survey in 2019/2020 showed that 48% of people living in rural southern Egypt cannot cover their basic needs. Two-thirds of poor people live in villages, and 43% of them are in rural southern Egypt. Also, the survey showed a small gap between males and females in enrolling in basic education for non-poor students, while there is a gap with respect to poor females in attending education, especially in secondary schools. The survey also showed an inverse correlation between education and poverty [5]. Figure 1 shows some of these gaps, specifically the differences between the urban and rural areas in Egypt, in terms of household size, infrastructure services, spending on education, and income levels. These graphs show that rural areas are deprived more than urban areas. In addition, Figure 1e shows the poverty rates according to household size. This is evidence that as the household size increases, the poverty rate increases.

There were many efforts to improve villages’ quality of life, for example, the National Program for Integrated Rural Development “Shorouk” (1994–2003) [14,15,16]. Reviewing Egypt’s rank in HDI from 1994 to 2003 and 2014 to 2022 showed that these programs did not achieve sustainable development [17]. The Decent Life Initiative has aims that directly link to SDGs: 1. No Poverty, 2. Zero Hunger, 3. Good Health and Well-Being, 4. Quality Education, 5. Gender Equality, 6. Clean Water and Sanitation, 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth, 10. Reduced Inequality, 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities, and 16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions [18,19]. Figure 2 shows the themes of the initiative.

These themes come under the main pillars of sustainability, which are social, economic, and environmental. Sustainable development requires contributions to economic growth and social progress and ensures environmental sustainability [20,21,22], as shown in Figure 3.

A report was published by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development in January 2021, which showed that the initiative works in 143 villages with 76% average poverty, which covers 1.8 million villagers [23]. Figure 4 shows the situation before the initiative, the current situation (time of the report), and the targets for 2020/2021. According to a report issued by the United Nations (UN) in 2022, the average poverty rate decreased by approximately 14 percentage points, and the quality-of-life index improved by approximately 18 percentage points in these poor villages. In addition, according to the UN report, the rate of health services coverage improved by approximately 24 percentage points, the rate of educational services coverage improved by approximately 12 percentage points, and sanitation coverage improved by approximately 46 percentage points in these poor villages [24].

3. Methods

From the sustainability aspect, the analysis of socio-environmental systems requires new qualitative assessment schemes and appropriate research instruments that enable the integrated assessment of ecological, social, and economic factors [26]. Modeling is used to represent the complex problem, and conceptual analysis is the first step in the modeling process. Many qualitative techniques are used for creating mental models such as mind maps, parameter lists [27], causal loop diagrams (CLD), etc. The most important feature of CLD is the illustration of feedback loops, which helps us to create a systematic understanding of how changes manifest in the problem.

This paper applies the systems thinking approach to study the real causes of the problems facing the villages and how can the initiative overcome those problems. Systems thinking is based on the Causal Loop Diagram (CLD), whose main purpose is to target the hidden core structure driving the behavior of the system. This can be used as an important tool to conceptualize real-world problems and can support performing accurate policies by showing how actions that are taken to tackle some problems in the system not only impact others in the system but also can return unintended and often undesirable large problems. It can also show how to target leverage points of the system, which by affecting them can reach the desirable solutions. CLD helps us to create a systematic understanding of how changes manifest in the problem, as it is a visual representation of the system under investigation. It consists of variables and arrows between these variables if there is a relationship between them. The causal relationships between variables can be in the same direction (+), which means that when a variable increases (decreases), it affects the increase (the decrease) of the other variable or Reinforcing (R) feedback loops. If they are in the opposite direction (−), i.e., when a variable increases (decreases), it affects the decrease (the increase) in the other variable or Balancing (B) feedback loops. R feedback loops are positive feedbacks that magnify changes (exponential growth or decline), while B feedback loops are negative feedbacks that act to stabilize system behavior over time. Hash marks (||) represent a Delay, a situation in which it takes time before the effect plays out [28].

In this paper, we use CLD to represent the relationships between different economic, social, and environmental components, which affect the Decent Life Initiative themes. The interactions between different feedback loops decide the system’s final behavior. This is performed by using a tool that is capable of visualizing relationships of variables and feedback effects of the system. The structure of the system dynamics model is portrayed by a causal loop diagram, which is formulated by using VENSIM software, version 9.3.

4. Results

This paper applies the systems thinking approach to the Decent Life Initiative by clarifying the problem and formulating the hypotheses. The conceptual model shows the dynamics underlying interactions among system components. Through the CLD, an explicit understanding of the problem can be generated, identifying the relationships between the components of the structure, especially economic, social, and environmental aspects, integrated from relationships and functions. The CLD that represents the Decent Life Initiative is shown in Figure 5 below.

4.1. Decent Life–Economic Feedback Loops

The interactions between the dimensions of the Decent Life Initiative and economic variables are shown in Figure 6. The developed causal loop diagram comprises five reinforcing feedback loops (positive loops). These interactions include the supply side of the economy represented by the feedback loops R1, R2, R3, and R4. The demand side of the economy is represented by the positive impact of Decent Life Initiative on employment opportunities. It is worth noting that the economic and social feedback loops are designed based on the poverty-reduction policies, adopted by the Decent Life Initiative, which mainly target income and capability poverty, especially in rural areas. Poverty is a complex issue with many causes and consequences. Some of the main factors that contribute to poverty include unemployment, lack of investment, poor education, inadequate healthcare, slum development, and a reduction in prices [29]. Additionally, the income of rural households is generated from diverse sources, which are from the farm sector and the non-farm sector. Recently, most of the income in rural households is generated from the non-farm sector, precisely from the government, commerce, and services sectors. This means that there is a diminishing trend in the contribution of the farm sector to the income of rural households [30].

Feedback loops R1, R2, R3, and R4 reflect the impact of one of the main dimensions of the Decent Life Initiative on private investments. This dimension focuses on enhancing the economic infrastructure by increasing its availability and improving its quality. The economic infrastructure includes finance and insurance services (R1), energy availability (R2), roads and transportation services (R3), and telecommunications services (R4). It is worth noting that advanced technology plays a vital role in enabling the Egyptian government to enhance the economic infrastructure at a lower cost and higher quality. The enhancement in the economic infrastructure will encourage the private sector, especially the micro, small, and medium firms, to increase their investments in rural areas, taking into consideration that the Egyptian government is working on issuing policies and legislations that facilitate doing business and facilitating the provision of micro and small loans to the poor. The four feedback loops (1), (2), (3), and (4) reflect a direct link with SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure [31].

Additionally, the positive impact of enhancing economic infrastructure on increasing private investments will encourage firms to demand more labor, and consequently, this will lead to creating more employment opportunities with better working conditions [31]. There are many opportunities in villages to invest in agricultural and biological wastes such as rice straw, corn stove, cottonwood, and date kernels [32]. Therefore, this is reflected in the CLD by the impact of another dimension of the Decent Life Initiative on employment opportunities. This dimension focuses on enhancing the social infrastructure by improving the quality of labor. This is achieved by providing better educational services, capacity development programs, and health services, without raising the cost paid by poor households to obtain these services. Improving the social infrastructure is related mainly to capability poverty-reduction programs, as poverty is not only related to income but also to capability poverty [29].

The role of the Egyptian government in raising the awareness of households to the importance of education, healthcare, and capacity programs is a very important factor that helps in changing the mindsets and attitudes of households and making them care more and spend more on such services. The enhancement in social infrastructure will enable the labor force to be more qualified and hence find better employment opportunities, with better working conditions. This positive impact will enable households to have a higher nominal income, and consequently, higher real income taking into consideration that the Egyptian government is working on inflation-targeting programs, to keep the increase in the nominal income higher than the increase in the prices, and to have a net increase in the real income [33]. This increase in real income will improve the quality of life of Egyptian households, which will lead to increased household opportunities for education, healthcare, and sustainability [19]. This is regarded as the main objective of the decent life initiative in Egypt.

Regarding the situation in poor rural communities in Egypt, designing programs that target reducing income and capability poverty requires a deep understanding of the main causes of poverty in these communities, which may be different from the causes of poverty in other areas in Egypt. Some poverty-reduction policies may not identify the actual requirements of the poor in rural communities. Therefore, it is advised to adopt different poverty-reduction policies that suit each governorate using the bottom-up approach [29].

4.2. Decent Life–Social Feedback Loops

Social infrastructure plays an important role in people’s lives. Transitioning to a sustainable society requires behavioral change [34] and trust in institutions [35]. This can be achieved by facilitating living elements, such as physical home characteristics, safe neighborhoods, proximity to schools, public transport, and green spaces in the neighborhood, to increase people’s satisfaction and improve their quality of life [36]. The social facet shows the link between social infrastructure and the Decent Life Initiative. The developed causal loop diagram comprises eleven feedback loops (R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12, R13, R14, and R15); all the feedback loops are reinforcing. The interactions between the dimensions of the Decent Life Initiative in Egypt and the social variables are shown in Figure 7.

Feedback Loop R5 shows the relationship between economic growth, employment, and poverty reduction. It is important to note that the growth that results in increased productivity in the “less productive” jobs sector may help to reduce poverty [37]. When employment opportunities increase, income increases, which in turn decreases poverty levels, and this is one of the main goals of the initiative. The feedback loop reflects a direct link with SDG1: No Poverty.

Studies have discussed the role of education and how it can affect societies since education is important because it reduces violence and crime in societies and it also helps to create more employment opportunities and secure a higher income [38]. Feedback loop R6 shows how education positively affects knowledge and awareness among individuals. This helps them adopt positive beliefs and ideas, which will help them refuse terrorism and stand against it. This drives the crime rate down, which will decrease violence and lead to enhancing the initiative results. Feedback loop R13 shows the negative relationship between poverty and education. Education will increase employment opportunities, which will increase income; accordingly, this will decrease poverty levels and lead to a high quality of life, which will provide a high standard of education. The feedback loop reflects the links between SDG1: No Poverty and goal 4: Quality Education.

Feedback loop R7 shows how social engagement affects initiative goals. As mentioned, education will affect knowledge and awareness among individuals positively, and this will help them adopt positive beliefs and ideas, which will increase their social engagement. When social engagement increases, this will cause the crime rate to go down, which will decrease violence and lead to enhancing the initiative results. Both feedback loops R6 and R7 reflect a direct link with SDG4: Quality Education [39]. In feedback loop R15, training and capacity building will increase employment opportunities, which will increase income; accordingly, this will decrease poverty levels and lead to a decent life. The feedback loop reflects a direct link with SDG8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. Feedback loops R8, R9, and R10 show how poverty affects food security, water security, and sanitation services, which will be reflected in citizens’ lives. It is noted that income has a positive and significant impact on food security in both rural and urban areas regardless of whether the subjective measure of food adequacy or the conventional calorie intake measure is used [40]. Feedback loop R8 shows that when employment opportunities increase, it causes income to increase, which will decrease poverty levels. Reduced poverty levels will increase food security, which will enhance citizens’ decent lives. Feedback loop R9 shows the linkage between poverty and water security. Water security is a multidimensional concept that includes water availability, accessibility, use, and stability, which creates an enabling environment for good nutrition [41]. Feedback loop R10 shows the linkage between poverty and basic sanitation services. The three feedback loops R8, R9, and R10 reflect a direct link with SDG2: Zero Hunger and Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, respectively.

Considering healthcare, quality of life is viewed as multidimensional, encompassing emotional, physical, material, and social well-being [42]. This is displayed in feedback loops R11 and R14. Studies have tried to assess how health conditions are associated with employment for adults aged 30–69, and the results showed that mental health conditions, nervous system/sensory conditions, and cardiovascular conditions were significantly associated with large reductions in the probability of working at −8, −10, and −19 percentage points, respectively [43,44]. Functional abilities were positively associated with employment to different degrees depending on education. Feedback loop R11 shows the positive relationship between healthcare services and physical functioning and how it will increase employment opportunities, which will increase income, and accordingly, decrease poverty levels and lead to enhancing the initiative results. Feedback loop R14 shows the other dimension of healthcare services, which is emotional functioning, which will affect stress rate among individuals and increase their social engagement. Accordingly, this will decrease the crime rate, which will decrease violence and help to enhance the initiative’s results. Both feedback loops R11 and R14 reflect a direct link with SDG3: Good Health and Well-being.

Researchers found that people living in less separated, low-poverty neighborhoods have a better quality of life and more economic opportunities, even when they have lower incomes [45]. Feedback loop R12 shows this positive relationship between housing stability and decent life. Housing stability will increase housing quality standards which will decrease environmental toxins and pollutants which will increase neighborhood quality. High-quality neighborhoods will increase individuals’ opportunities to have a decent life. This feedback loop reflects a direct link with SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

4.3. Decent Life–Environmental Feedback Loops

Environmental Quality is the set of general or local environmental properties and characteristics that affect humans and other organisms. It is a measure of the state of the environment in relation to the requirements, human needs, or purposes of one or more species. Environmental quality includes air, water purity or pollution, noise, and how these characteristics affect physical activity [46]. Also, it includes the natural and built environment, including potential impacts on mental health [47]. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines Environmental Quality as two integrated parts: Outdoor quality and indoor quality.

In this paper, air quality and water quality are considered the major forms of outdoor environmental quality. Also, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials and resources efficiency, and sustainable site planning and management are considered the major forms of indoor environmental quality.

4.3.1. Outdoor Environmental Quality

The features of the outdoor environment in urban spaces and morphology affect the quality of life of urban inhabitants and visitors. The purpose of this paper is to develop an extensive hypothesis related to the modification of the urban environment and inhabitants’ quality of life via a systematic literature review. The parameters include microclimatic variations, waste minimization, and other influencing factors that are desired to contemplate for rigorous investigation. Factors play a key role in the adaptation of quality of life and responsively affect the dwellers’ attitudes and behavior [48]. The two major forms of outdoor environmental quality are air quality and water quality.

• Air as a key element of Environmental Quality

Outdoor air is used to describe the air outside buildings. Air is the most used natural resource, which cannot be excluded by any individual, and this is the root cause for it being polluted to the core by the people. Air pollution can compromise human well-being and the environment in numerous ways [49]. Air quality impact assessment (AQIA) is an important technique for determining the relative contribution to ground-level pollutant concentrations of specific current or future source emissions at receptor sites [50]. The principal activities in AQIA are air quality modeling and monitoring techniques. The choice of techniques that are applicable to a particular situation is intimately related to the problem to be assessed. The objectives of AQIA are to provide technical information for EIA reports and the air quality status of whatever concern.

The developed causal loop diagram comprises four feedback loops representing air as environment quality (R16, R17, R18, and R19); all feedback loops are reinforcing, as depicted in Figure 8.

• Water as a key element of Environmental Quality

Most water resources have been degraded and polluted as a result of rapid population growth and industrialization, so it is critical to monitor and assess water quality. Understanding how water quality parameters behave is critical in managing their effects. Understanding the types and effects of salinity, for example, allows us to manage its effects.

Managing the quality of both surface water and groundwater is vital for sustaining aquatic ecosystems, which is important to protect the considerable diversity of waterway types, the unique biodiversity they support, and the social and economic services they provide to our community. The developed causal loop diagram comprises three feedback loops representing the water as environment quality (R20, R21, and R22) in total; all feedback loops are reinforcing as depicted in Figure 8.

When an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is applied to air quality, this leads to an increase in the quality of the external environment and therefore an increase in environmental advice and monitoring, which also leads to an increase in environmental safety. As environmental safety is achieved, this will lead to a decrease in greenhouse gases and pollutants, which in turn leads to an increase in air quality (Feedback loop R16). The feedback loop reflects a direct link with SDG 13: Climate Action.

Regarding feedback loop R16, a higher-quality external environment leads to an increase in the integration of environmental management in the field of waste management, which also leads to an increase in environmental awareness, and thus an increase in solid waste recycling [51]. Effective engagement of household solid waste either for recovery, reuse, or recycling via the sorting and separation of solid waste according to their constituent property will guarantee proper exploitation and utilization of the benefits in solid waste composition and enhance environmental quality and sustainability. The increase in solid waste recycling leads to a decrease in greenhouse gases and pollutants, which in turn will lead to an increase in air quality, and thus an increase in the integration of environmental management into the field of waste management [52].

Feedback loops R18 and R19 maintain better conditions in the external environment, and we must integrate new waste treatment measures using mostly top-edge technology, thus creating newer and better biogas units. Those units are mostly responsible for making recycling agricultural and animal wastes both cost and time-efficient, making higher-quality organic fertilizers [53]. Organic agriculture is therefore achieved, having a significant positive impact on the economy and quality of life as well, thus further integrating environmental management into the field of waste management. Also, the creation of biogas units with state-of-the-art technology help improve agricultural and animal waste recycling by achieving new levels of energy efficiency, which will also lead to an increase in clean production, thus reaching higher levels of air quality, and finally, the integration of environmental management into the field of waste management will be further integrated [54]. The feedback loops reflect a direct link with SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.

Feedback loop R20 indicated that to achieve environmental outdoor quality, we should have active legislation to protect water canals, which leads to reducing losses of canals’ water and water conservation, and therefore more water and higher outdoor environment quality, which is consistent with WHO recommendations. Feedback loop R21 stated that when applying technology for expanding irrigation projects and developing surface irrigation with technology and water treatment, we achieve water conservation, and therefore higher water quality [55]. In addition, feedback loop R22 demonstrated that increasing awareness by rationalizing consumption will reduce water demand, which will achieve water conservation and water quality [56]. The feedback loops reflect a direct link with SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.

4.3.2. Indoor Environmental Quality

Considering sustainable concepts in the early stages of infrastructure has the potential to enhance its performance and reduce the total Life Cycle Cost (LCC). Therefore, for infrastructure to be classified as green, it needs to fulfill certain criteria and have minimum LCC without considering traditional planning, namely (1) energy efficiency, (2) indoor environment quality, (3) sustainable site planning and management, and (4) materials and resources. Evaluating the economic and environmental impacts of green criteria of infrastructure, in the long run, requires examining the major variables’ effect on the assessment. The developed causal loop diagram comprises seven feedback loops (R23, R24, R25, R26, R27, R28, and R29) in total; all feedback loops are reinforcing, as depicted in Figure 9.

Green infrastructure is only truly green if it uses environmentally friendly and sustainable materials and resources, both during construction and afterward for facility maintenance and operation. Feedback loop R23 describes the relationship between materials and resources efficiency and quality of life. Contractors must follow adequate waste management practices, including the storage, collection, and reuse of recyclable materials. Reusing and recycling existing materials can help avoid having to make new ones, which lowers carbon emissions [57,58]. Applying a waste management system by considering storage collection helps in decreasing waste materials and increasing reuse and recycling materials. Using environmentally friendly and sustainable materials maintains the efficient use of materials and natural resources. This leads to a decrease in material extraction and a decrease in the carbon footprint. This improves environmental performance and has a positive impact on the quality of life. On the other hand, as the quality of life improves, it becomes more important to pay attention to the efficient use of materials and natural resources during the planning stage. The feedback loop reflects a direct link with SDG 13: Climate Action.

According to feedback loop R24, regarding the relationship between Sustainable Site Planning and Management and Quality of Life, appropriate sites with easy access to public transportation, open spaces such as parks, community services, good landscaping, and proper stormwater management have positive effects on on-site planning and management and lead to sustainability. Having proper parks and landscaping with greenery and plants promotes a healthy environment and goes a long way toward reducing the carbon footprint. The feedback loop reflects a direct link with SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Feedback loop R25 defines the relationship between infrastructure orientation and energy consumption. Optimizing infrastructure orientation in the planning of infrastructure helps to enhance the harvesting of as much natural light. This leads to minimizing energy consumption, which enhances energy efficiency. On the other hand, when energy efficiency increases, it leads to paying attention to the orientation of the infrastructure in the planning stage. Feedback loop R26 detects the relationship between infrastructure orientation and solar heat gains. Optimizing the infrastructure orientation in the planning of infrastructure helps to reduce solar heat gain. It contributes to lowering excessive daytime heat accumulation by creating non-mechanical ventilation and switching heated indoor air for cooler air [59]. This leads to enhancing energy efficiency. On the other hand, when energy efficiency increases, it leads to paying attention to the orientation of the infrastructure in the planning stage.

Feedback loop R27 shows the relationship between energy efficiency and quality of life. Using renewable energy in infrastructure will enhance energy efficiency. A reduction in social inequality increases the quality of life with minor energy use in the planning of infrastructure [60]. By increasing energy efficiency, it reduces the wastage of energy and thus uses fewer resources for creating energy, which in turn reduces its carbon footprint. This leads to enhancing environmental performance and will have a positive effect on the quality of life. On the other hand, when the quality of life increases, it leads to paying attention to energy efficiency in the planning stage. Applying energy efficiency in infrastructure planning will help reduce the amount of energy used, which will reduce the cost of use and the cost of maintenance and increase the initial cost. This will reduce the total life cycle cost of the infrastructure. The feedback loops reflect a direct link with SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.

Feedback loop R28 describes the relationship between LCC and economic performance. It can be observed that using renewable energy in infrastructure helps to decrease the initial cost, which leads to a decrease in the LCC. This is terns of increasing economic performance. On the other hand, when economic performance increases, it leads to paying attention to the use of renewable energy in infrastructure in the planning stage. Feedback loop R29 is the same as feedback loop R28 except maintenance costs will be reduced when considering regular maintenance for infrastructure. This leads to a decrease in the LCC.

The outside environment is not the only thing that influences our health; the quality of the indoor environment also plays a major role [61]. To achieve a high-quality indoor environment, energy efficiency and the best selection site should be considered. Architects must consider air quality by using sustainable paints, acoustics, and visual and thermal comforts. This involves the use of quality air filtration methods and proper ventilation, as well as sustainable temperature and humidity control. The seven feedback loops reflect a direct link with SDGs 7, 11, and 13: Affordable and Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities, and Communities, and Climate Action.

5. Discussion

By analyzing Decent Life CLD, we find that the Decent Life Initiative achieves many of the sustainable development goals.

Table 1. The feedback loops and the corresponding sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Reinforce Loop	Sustainable Development Goal
R(1) & R(2) & R(3) & R(4)	Goal (9): Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
R(5) & R(13)	Goal (1): No Poverty
R(6) & R(7) & R(13)	Goal (4): Quality Education
R(8)	Goal (2): Zero Hunger
R (9) & R(10) & R(20) & R(21) & R(22)	Goal (6): Clean Water and Sanitation
R(11) & R(14)	Goal (3): Good Health and Well-being
R(12) & R(24)	Goal (11): Sustainable Cities and Communities
R (15)	Goal (8): Decent Work and Economic Growth
R(16) & R(23)	Goal (13): Climate Action
R(17) & R(18) & R(19) & R(25) & R(26) & R(27)	Goal (7): Affordable and Clean Energy

shows the feedback loops and the corresponding sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Many research papers and reports show the importance of awareness, legislation, and technology in achieving SDGs, especially in developing countries and rural areas. These studies showed how environmental awareness can be utilized as a tool for environmental policymaking and management [62]. For example, when people are aware of the environmental impacts of their actions, they are more likely to demand governments and businesses take action to protect the environment. This can lead to the development of more stringent environmental regulations and policies. Also, environmental awareness can empower citizens to take action to protect the environment themselves. This can include things like recycling, composting, and reducing their consumption of energy and resources. Environmental awareness can help decision-makers make better decisions about environmental policy and management since they will be better informed about the environmental impacts of their decisions. Environmental awareness can help to build consensus on environmental issues since it can help people understand the different perspectives on environmental issues and find common ground.

Egypt’s Human Development Report 2021 (2021) shows that the low level of technology used for waste disposal is one of the challenges for Egypt, besides the increasing amount of waste produced due to population growth, changes in consumption patterns, changes in waste characteristics, and shortage in sustainable financing. Also, the report shows the importance of awareness of issues related to solid waste management through education, as people will build cultural awareness and the ability to assume responsibility for solving this issue [17].

Also, many studies show that raising locals’ awareness is crucial, especially in agricultural and rural communities, for social acceptance of energy transition [63]. In addition, they show that Egypt has been using Photovoltaic technologies and solar photovoltaic systems since the beginning of the 1980s [64]. They are used in lighting, pumping, commercial advertising, desalination, and cold storage. For the use of biomass energy in Egypt, they suggest the importance of enforcing laws to ban farmers from dumping agricultural residues or burning them to allow a successful way to collect the residues to be used correctly. They also show the importance of awareness for the success of gasification plants through conferences for companies that control the plants to encourage possible cooperation among private investors and increase public awareness of such plants on a national scale.

Additionally, Refs. [11,12,17,65] provide evidence that raising awareness, adopting technology, and issuing supportive policies and legislation can play important roles in maximizing the impact of the Decent Life Initiative. In addition to these studies, there are several other studies that have found that these three catalysts can be effective in promoting development. For example, a study by the World Bank found that raising awareness about the benefits of education can lead to increased school enrollment. Another study found that adopting new technologies can help improve agricultural productivity. A study by the United Nations found that supportive policies and legislation can help create an environment that is conducive to development.

So, the research adopts the three catalysts that can play important roles in maximizing the impact of the Decent Life Initiative, which are raising awareness, adopting technology, and issuing supportive policies and legislation. Citizens’ participation can play an important role in achieving Decent Life Initiative themes, which can be achieved by letting them be part of the initiative and raising Awareness through social media platforms; otherwise, all the effort made to achieve sustainable development will be lost as there will be no appreciation from the citizens. This can be performed through well-prepared direct and indirect messages through different channels of media. Adopting technology is now required for societies to thrive and evolve, and at the same time, societies’ cultures, goals, and aspirations have affected how those civilizations have generated and benefited from technology. Finally, the government should work on policies and legislation, which will facilitate the achievement of sustainable development goals.

The leverage points of the CLD and how to maximize their impact on achieving the SDGs can be discovered using system analysis prospection. The proposed catalysts can effect feedback loops of CLD behavior as follows:

• Raising Awareness: To maximize and accelerate social impacts, the government should work hard to modify citizen behaviors towards the importance of education (Feedback loop R6), healthcare (Feedback loop R11), social engagement (Feedback loop R7), and training and capacity development (Feedback loop R15). To maximize and accelerate environmental impacts, social marketing can be a powerful tool for changing sustainable behavior [66], such as household solid waste recycling (Feedback loop R17). Also, Feedback loop R22 shows it is most effective and can also play an important role in rationalizing the consumption of water.
• Adopting Technology: Utilizing advanced technology in providing the economic infrastructure, including telecommunications services (Feedback loop R4), energy supplies (Feedback loop R2), roads and transportation services (Feedback loop R3), and finance and insurance services (Feedback loop R1) plays a vital role in enabling the Egyptian government to enhance these services. It is worth noting that acquiring advanced technology may have high initial costs in the short run; however, it provides high-cost savings in the long run. Technology can play a role in solving environmental problems, although structural measures are also required if we are to realize a future sustainable society. Feedback loops R18 and R19 show that applying technology for using biogas units will improve the environment through clean energy production and organic farming.
• Policies and legislations: The Egyptian government may issue policies and legislation that facilitate doing business in Egypt. These policies and legislations include facilitating the procedures needed to start a new business, removing the barriers and obstacles faced by firms that are working in the Egyptian markets, and giving incentives to encourage firms to increase their investments in Egypt such as lower taxes and lower interest rates on business loans (Feedback loop R1). Also, there is an important need for environmental legislation to protect water canals (Feedback loop R20).

6. Conclusions

This paper studied the Decent Life Initiative from the economic, social, and environmental perspectives in line with the SDGs. The paper uses the systems thinking approach—since it is a valuable tool for policy making. It can help in identifying the root causes of problems and developing solutions that are more likely to be effective—by utilizing the Causal Loop Diagrams methodology to understand the relationship between components that represent this complex system and their overall impact on system outcomes. Finally, this paper recommended required policy interventions to ensure the sustainability of the initiative goals. They are awareness, technology, and policies and legislation for maximizing the impact of the Decent Life Initiative in achieving SDGs. These three factors are all essential for the success of the Decent Life Initiative. Awareness is important because it can help create a demand for the initiative. When people are aware of the benefits of the initiative, they are more likely to support it. Technology is important because it can be used for delivering the initiative and to measure its impact. Policies and legislation are important because they can create an enabling environment for the initiative. By focusing on these three factors, policy makers can maximize the impact of the Decent Life Initiative in achieving SDGs.

The main contribution of this paper is that it visualized the connections between the different perspectives of the Decent Life Initiative. Therefore, it handled the problem that many decision-makers encounter when they make strategic decisions without considering the full life cycle and wider environmental, social, and economic impacts of their decisions, which in turn can lead to unintended trade-offs between environmental, social, and economic concerns, hindering progress toward sustainable development [6].

On the other hand, the main limitation of this paper is that the authors could not completely evaluate the degree of success of the Decent Life Initiative since the timeframe of this initiative is 2019 to 2024. Thus, the final initiative impacts and outcomes are not published yet. However, the policy makers can benefit from the results and analyses of this paper in revising their policies while they are implementing the remaining phases of the Decent Life Initiative. Despite these limitations, I believe that systems thinking can be a valuable tool for policy making. By understanding the benefits and limitations of systems thinking, policy makers can use it more effectively to address complex problems.

Finally, future research could be directed toward utilizing the system dynamics approach by utilizing the stock-flow diagrams in quantifying the impacts of the Decent Life Initiative on the achievement of the SDGs in Egypt. Other future research directions include studying the impacts of other presidential initiatives, such as those related to slum development, health initiatives, etc., on the achievement of the SDGs in Egypt using the systems thinking approach.