Dear Students, Parents, Teachers, and Educators,
Model United Nations empowers students with the knowledge and skills to solve global issues, to become leaders in their schools and communities, and to bring out the best in themselves and in other students.
The current COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic is certainly a global issue requiring strong leadership. The situation has affected Model UN students and conferences worldwide, including the cancelation of many spring Model UN conferences and the closure of many schools, putting an abrupt end to the Model UN semester.
We acknowledge this is disappointing for many, especially for the seniors who won’t get a chance to attend their final Model UN conference. And we recognize that this was an incredibly difficult decision for many conferences and schools to make — but one where student leaders, teachers, and administrators took decisive and responsible action to prioritize health, safety, and well-being, even before governments provided guidance.
Model UN is a community of leaders. We have a mission to step up and continue educating each other about global issues. We need to prepare future world leaders so we can be ready to tackle future pandemics and global challenges. There’s no better time to do this than now — what actions will we take?
Here are our recommendations for how to continue doing Model UN while social distancing:
1. Use free resources to do Model UN with your club online
Model UN clubs can continue to do online committees or topic discussions. The easiest way is to use background guides that your students already have from a previous conference, but now the entire club gets to do that topic together.
Model UN clubs can also use the following:
- Use our Background Guide on Child Labor and Placard Set
- Use background guides that we will be releasing for free in the coming weeks, including one on the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic
- Use our Diplomat Guide and Video Gallery to run training activities for delegates
- Study news sources from different countries to compare and contrast how they are covering the Coronavirus Pandemic
2. Participate in Best Delegate’s New Model UN Online Debates
Best Delegate is launching Model UN Online Debates. We will offer a new Online Debate every week throughout March and April. This enables students to connect with the world and make new friends from home.
These are interactive, live online debates that will be like attending a Model UN conference, including a topic briefing, guided research, speeches, debate, resolution writing, and voting. Each week features a different international topic and country assignment.
The first Online Debate starts March 24th, and students can enroll by March 22nd to join. Click here to learn more.
3. Ask how to support the canceled Model UN conferences
The students organizing those conferences put in a lot of effort organizing an unrealized conference vision. For many MUN programs, the annual conference is their biggest fundraiser of the year, and now they may be facing budget challenges.
Ask how you can support a conference you had been planning to attend. For example, would they want to run an online committee or be open to applying this year’s fees as credit for next year? At the very least, let them know you plan to attend again next year as a sign of support.
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We also understand there may be some questions from the community about the MUN Institute and the College Model UN Rankings:
What is the status of the Model United Nations Institute?
The Model United Nations Institute is still being planned to operate this summer given that they are still several months away. However, we will continue to closely monitor the situation as it evolves and follow the guidance of government health agencies and our host universities.
What is the status of the Best Delegate College Model UN Rankings?
Best Delegate wants to recognize teams for their accomplishments this year and plans to publish College Rankings up through the last conference that was run. We will also acknowledge the conferences that were canceled in the rankings.
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The United Nations and governments have certainly had to address pandemics and other global issues in the past, and will face them again in the future. We need to prepare future world leaders who are ready to tackle future global challenges. Model UN is how we can prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s leaders.
Let’s continue to bring out the best in ourselves, in our community, and in our world.
Best,
Kevin Felix Chan & Ryan Villanueva
Chief Executive Officer & Chief Education Officer
