BY CHANDRASNATA MOHANTY, HEAD OF PRESS, 100K DEEDS CHALLENGE
Last July, MUN Impact launched its first virtual Global Summit. At its inception, we had no idea how successful our little experiment would turn out to be. But thanks to the numerous student presenters, UN-affiliated speakers, and passionate changemakers, the Summit went exceptionally well. After this experimental summit, the October summit came with a bang and exceeded all expectations! Students from all corners of the world attended the summit and participated in its various strands, namely – the Inspiration strand, the Sandbox strand and the Dolphin Pool. Now, if you’ve been a part of our previous summit, here’s some good news for you. We at MUN Impact are back with another Summit! Yes! You’ve read it right.
The Global Summit 3.0 will be held from 3rd to 5th September 2021, and as the article title suggests, will focus on three areas: Earth, Economy and Equity. This will be a three-day free event like the previous summits. If you’re wondering what’s different this time, the conference Secretary Generals, Ananya Balakrishnan and Vedant Kulkarni, let us in on some insider stuff.
“Past summit (Global Summit 2.0) was indeed a success with over 2500 students and introduction of sandbox strands and dolphin pools. The component that we felt was lacking was giving students the access to hear out a group of leaders from various organizations/constituencies discussing and presenting views on a common topic. We called this opportunity as Forums. As our 3 days have been divided as Earth, Economy and Equity, we will have 3 forums (one on each day) to discuss topics such as youth engagement on climate change, youth innovation, and equity to healthcare. Students will have the opportunity to then possibly interact with the leaders to discuss action plans and further opportunities. There will be a 4th Open Forum to further discuss topics that interest people and society today to derive tangible outcomes in the near future.
Stay tuned for more details and specific agendas for the forums, and we are sure that this will be an exceptional opportunity for those who’ll be there.”
Regular schooling and even the typical extracurricular activities have a limited range of experiences to offer today’s youth – especially the middle school to university level students. The substantial exposure to high-level advocacy, diplomacy and an opportunity to connect with the larger ‘real world’ can be best offered via an event like the E3 summit.
We implore each student to get introduced to these experiences to think, plan and work for a better world (by advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals) with a community of similar goal orientation. This summit would not only allow you to learn from accomplished people but also allow bringing your innovative ideas into reality – receiving feedback on them by directors of different organisations and successful youth leaders – makes this whole effort worthwhile and exceptional. In short, Global Summit offers a range of opportunities to give you an enriching experience to unleash the ‘locked potential’ and make it worth your while.
The MUNI Global Summits are always a hub for individuals who want to make change in the communities around them– that much is a given, and has always (and will always!) been one. That said, so many different people bring unique perspectives to the table. This means that participants can push their thinking farther and farther, learning more about issues they were already familiar with as they go. The diversity of our workshops means that participants can engage with issues they’re completely unfamiliar with as well, and so can learn more there too. Both of these have numerous benefits– while people are of course able to develop their own ideas, they’re also able to gain insight – and be exposed to numerous viewpoints – into different areas.
” Changemaking comes,first and foremost, from the development of ideas. The Summit serves not only as a hub for people to discuss different issues in order to develop their ideas, but as a place where people are able to use what they’ve learned to create projects and start initiatives. The past couple of summits have been very intentionally designed with that in mind, which is where the SDG Sandboxes and Dolphin Pools come into play. By taking advantage of those, participants can reflect on what they’ve learned in order to come up with effective solutions to the problems they see in their communities and around the world”, remarks Co-Secretary General, Ananya Balakrishnan.
Through our efforts, we are opening new doors of opportunities for each person who will participate in this summit somehow. While some students leave with a sparkling idea to solve a problem in their daily life, other participants would end up networking with a UN official or making new friends from various corners of the world! “Some could get involved with the amazing work of our partner organizations, while some participants would have a better understanding of a global issue. For organizations that present at our workshops, they get introduced to hundreds and thousands of youth activists to introduce their services! For the student leaders involved in the organisation of this summit, there’s a completely different plethora of life experiences that they go through. This is the kind of IMPACT that we look forward to through our E³ Summit,” explains conference Co-Secretary General, Vedant Kulkarni.
From fine plenaries, various SDG workshops to the interactive sandbox and dolphin pool sessions and exciting social hours, we provide today’s youth a platform to join this revolution of ‘Impact making’ by providing them with an opening to connect with like-minded people, to interact with accomplished thought-leaders and to utilize the opportunity to test their ‘wild ideas’.