By MUN Impact Writer, Si Yun Ee, Taipei American School
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When guest speakers extend an invitation to talk or meet with them after an MUN conference, I highly recommend taking them up on the offer. From my experience I want to share here, they mean it and the lessons learned are invaluable.
While attending the Taichung Model United Nations (TAIMUN) last April I had the opportunity to meet the invited guest speaker, Ms. Rebecca Maxie, who is a campaign manager for Shot@Life in the United Nations Foundation. Shot@Life aims to ensure that children around the world have access to lifesaving vaccines. After connecting with her during the conference and via email in the months following, it coincidentally happened that in July, I was going to Washington D.C. on a family holiday so I took up Ms. Maxie’s offer to visit her at work.
I was extremely nervous the morning of my visit. I had so many ideas running through my head and so many initiatives I wanted to put into action. Here I was with an opportunity to talk with a field professional in her office. When I arrived at the United Nations Foundation I was amazed to see so many people in the office bustling with discussion and clicking away on their keyboards. I was introduced to Wesley Rogerson, a Senior Associate of United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNAUSA). UNAUSA aims to build understanding and support of the United Nations ideals and work to the American people. Mr. Rogerson and many others stopped to talk and impressed me with the passion with which they spoke about their work. So many things I was interested in pursuing and they were actively engaged in the work.
When taken to the rooftop of the UN Foundation office (as seen in the photo above), with the landscape of Washington D.C., the center of politics of the United States before my eyes, I felt small only for a moment. Surrounded by Rebecca and Wesley I felt empowered to start talking about a big idea I had in my mind for a long time. Nervous and not sure where to start, I began by explaining that I wanted to develop the MUN program at my school (Taipei American School) into a program that is more than just participants visiting other conferences, or holding our own conference. Despite the importance in the accumulation of experience and knowledge in doing that, I wanted more. I wanted to kick-start the impact of our program from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but I didn’t know how. Wesley and Rebecca provided me with guidance and resources on how to plant the seeds of change. Wesley works with University UN Foundation Chapters or Clubs in the United States that promote the work of certain campaigns of the United Nations. He had an online resource archive that he shared with me in building something similar to a UN Foundation Chapter. Rebecca gave me ideas on how to implement or embed ideas of certain campaigns by introducing them into the community using different approaches depending on their cultural or other factors that may affect the demographic view. Her experience in working with Shot@Life greatly impacted the different crowds that she has had to work with. It was incredibly insightful taking their wisdom and experience and applying it to my understanding of the SDGs and suddenly having focus and direction for my idea.
With their suggestions and support, I brought that idea and inspiration back to Taipei and shared it with my MUN director, Mrs. Darby Sinclair. The idea I came up with is to focus on the impact factor of MUN, and to do so, I thought that by integrating MUN and different real world campaigns and organizations, I could induce interest and activism from participants on both ends. With the mindset on working with the SDGs, and my interest in the goal toward gender equality (Goal 5) I found a terrific match; the UN Foundation campaign and the Girl Up club at my school. We formed a connection and continue on the process of planning initiatives involving the two programs. Currently in the works are the creation of an open board for people to state their views on gender equality as well as sharing quotes about empowering women. As a result of being appointed MUN-Girl Up Liaison, I can now see with more clarity how the MUN community can further impact our world. With just a little more organization we can tap into an abundance of possibilities.
To all my other peers around the world, don’t be afraid to search for opportunities. Speak up, ask, discuss. The power of sharing your ideas is incredible – and the possibilities that may arise are even more so. It is easy to find the connection between our world and the SDGs. They are everywhere, and MUN serves as an outlet to reach these goals. I am grateful to Rebecca and Wesley for their support and inspiration. They opened a door for me and I sincerely want the MUN community to take a giant leap through it with me. This experience at the United Nations Foundation confirmed for me that youth do have a voice and our ideas are worth putting into action.