What is Model United Nations?
And why should I join it?
Model United Nations is an educational, extra-curricular activity, in which participants role-play as Ambassadors to the United Nations, in a simulation of a meeting, of one of the main bodies, or sub-committees of the United Nations. MUN Simulations can also be a regional body, or political organization, like the League of Arab States, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In such a case, the name of the activity reflects the body that is being represented. eg: Model Arab League, Model European Parliament, etc.
Who participates in Model United Nations?
Participants of a Model UN conference mainly comprise of school or university students. MUN clubs are usually fully student-led, and in many cases, an adviser appointed by the school or university is available to oversee the activity from a high level and facilitate communication between the student activity and faculty/ administration.
Where do Model United Nations Conferences take place?
Model United Nations conferences are distributed all around the world. Over 400 conferences are currently being reported in over 60 countries worldwide, and well over 600,000 students participate in MUN activities every year. Today, MUN is considered to be one of the most popular and vastly growing student & educational activities on an international level and is only expected to witness growing success in the coming years.
The Benefits of Participation in Model United Nations
1- Developing Lifelong Skills
Model United Nations develops every possible aspect of your skillset, the least of which are public speaking, expressiveness, negotiation, debating, advanced research, critical analysis, problem-solving, and teamwork skills, as well as project management, leadership and most importantly, the art of diplomacy. Even one MUN experience can leave you with an invaluable set of life-long skills that can set you up for better success, as a college student, fresh graduate or young professional.
2- Added Qualification for College and Career
MUN graduates frequently report that advanced MUN experiences during years of study gave them an added advantage amidst competitive college applications, and later served as a qualification that enabled them not only to land their first job but progress better in their early career.
The Globally Dispersed Friends and Community.
MUN Clubs are usually very close communities, and International MUN conferences give you access to friends all around the world.
3- MUN is FUN
as well as educational.
4- MUN has inspired thousands, and created some prominent world leaders,
including former UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon.
What are the different positions in MUN?
A Delegate.
The starting point of a Model UN Journey. As an ambassador representing a country to discuss/ resolve specific committee topics, this position would put you at the heart of the simulation, where most of the action takes place, and keep you closely engaged with everything happening in the committee. Delegate experiences are usually a prerequisite to progress to higher positions in MUN. As MUN skills can be better developed with multiple delegate experiences over time, many MUN experts continue to choose it, and some accumulate up to 20 delegate experiences throughout their MUN journey!
A Head Delegate is a student that organizes and heads a travel team of other delegates from his/ her community to a MUN conference abroad. Aside from participating in the conference as a delegate, the head delegate would guide and support other members of his delegation during research & preparation, as well as assist with travel arrangements.
Chair, Vice-Chair/ Co-Chair, Director, Rapporteur
Advanced positions in MUN conference simulations. The chairs are the moderators of debate and formal committee proceedings. In traditional MUN, these positions are called "Dais" and are appointed by the conference secretariat. In UN4MUN, they are called "Bureau" and are elected by fellow delegates of the conference.
President of the General Assembly, and Vice Presidents of the GA.
In UN4MUN simulations, these are the highest positions in a General Assembly leadership structure and serve as an integral part of the actual MUN simulation. Added to the chairs, they make up what is known as the "General Committee".
The Secretariat.
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Under-Secretaries-General and Deputy Secretaries-General
also known as "Senior Secretariat", who usually head their own departments & teams, and work on managing all organizational aspects of the conference beforehand, to both arrange for and facilitate the work of all participants of the simulation (Delegates, Bureau, etc).
The secretariat teams/ positions managed by these USG's (could) include:
Press Team, Logistics Team, Outreach Team (Ambassadors), Fundraising Team, The Committee Chairs (in traditional MUN), The Secretaries (in UN4MUN) and more.
The secretariat is headed by the conference chief operating officer,
the Secretary-General.
What is a Model UN career?
Even before graduating, MUNers pass through a gradual progression, from one MUN position to the next. This is a process that requires recommendations, accumulated experience, and specific qualifications to get into every new position. With every new, higher position come new learnings, skills, qualifications, and connections. MUN experiences are slowly accumulated up until graduation to finally make up the Model UN Resume.
How do I get started?
Ready to begin your MUN journey?
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You've come to the right place! Join the United Ambassadors MUN Conference!