By Muhammad Taimoor, Doha British School
After being inspired at THIMUN 2018, students at DBS put forward the idea of a new student leadership role in MUN – that of an MUN Impact coordinator. The post was advertised, applications received and two coordinators were appointed, Faiz Mahmood and Muhammad Taimoor, who share a vision to get the whole school talking Global Goals, not just those involved in MUN.
Initially our MUN Impact coordinators set Global Goals challenges on a weekly basis in MUN as an ECA, sharing some of the successes on the school social media, as well as on the DBS notice board in school. Our Press co-ordinator, Aisha Al Hammadi supported their work by creating a Global Goals board which clearly sets out all the Global Goals with top tips on how, with little effort, we can all do that extra bit more to support the SDG’s. As our Impact co-orinators became more confident, they decided to focus on championing a particular Global Goal whole school. The idea resolved around a very topical news agenda – the environment, SDG 12. Many discussions have arisen regarding how to encourage students at DBS to be more considerate about not only the school environment but also in Qatar.
Faiz and Muhammad have reached out to others in Doha, such as Hamad Hospital, to investigate how we can reuse the plastic waste we throw away each day so that others may benefit from its potential uses (i.e. prosthetics). They have also initiated a ‘shoebox’ activity for the school, whereby forms in the secondary school compete with each other to produce the most boxes filled with utilities that would normally be thrown away (the contents of the shoe boxes made into displays). Currently as MUN Impact coordinators they are challenging students to make bottle plants by using plastic to act as pots. There are plans in the pipe line to make a garden project – using funds raised from a bake sale, striving for a more environmentally friendly school.
Our role as MUN Impact is to bring theory into action – hence the impact! Anyone can make an impact here, and all they have to do is volunteer!