By William Weston
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Since the end of the inaugural MUN Impact Global Summit in July, the whole MUN Impact team have been working hard to ensure an amazing second edition, and Friday’s Opening Ceremony demonstrated just that. After a short opening video and technical message, the ceremony kicked off with the premiere performance of the MUN Impact Choir. A project that began before the previous summit and thanks to the amazing work of Ms. Taylor Pietz from John Burroughs School in St. Louis, United States, was premiered in front of the 180+ participants who attended the opening ceremony. It carried a message of hope and inspiration, captured by the song title itself, High Hopes, by Panic! At the Disco.
After an opening message from the Summit Co-Secretary General, Hugh McDowell, participants welcomed Annemarie Hou, Acting Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships and Senior Communications Adviser in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General at the United Nations. Ms. Hou encouraged participants to “face our fears” as she demonstrated herself by presenting without any script. She expressed the importance of partnerships in order to make change and achieve the SDGs.
When asked by Natabara Rolloson, a member of MUN Impact’s Board of Director’s, “How do you see the UN’s collaboration with the youth changing?” Ms. Hou responded by saying she is increasingly seeing young people taking leadership roles, for example as we can see through the ongoing climate action movement. She then went on to explain the importance of female leadership, as has been seen during the Coronavirus pandemic, as female leaders have done particularly well with dealing with the virus. Furthermore, when asked about how students should work towards achieving the SDGs, she explained that any student looking to make a change should start with a plan. From that plan, we should find decision makers (leaders, entrepreneurs, activists) and get their attention. She emphasized that if we have the skills, or know someone with the skills, that decision maker could be ourselves.
Following Ms. Hou’s enlightening presentation, the opening ceremony came to its second musical performance, this time thanks to Ambi and Bindu Subramaniam from Bangalore, India. The duo are strong supporters of the SDGs and their enthusiasm carried through to the audience during the exceptional performance of their original, upbeat song, ‘Superheroes without capes’. They told participants that the meaning of the song is that everyone has the power to make a difference, a theme very present throughout the ceremony.
Following on from Ambi and Bindu’s musical interlude, participants were joined by Swiss climate activist, Marie-Claire Grath. A former MUN delegate herself, Marie-Claire explained how she was impacted by the sights of glaciers melting along with the changing marine ecosystem. She explained that SDG 13 (Climate Action) is essential to achieving all the other SDGs. Therefore, Marie-Claire has attended several Friday’s for Future climate strikes, along with setting up the Sustainability Week project, aiming to get university students involved in climate related projects. She made clear that the youth can use social media to get our messages out and hopefully make contact with high level leaders and decision makers. However, Grath did ensure that everyone was aware that the uphill battle which is climate activism can be tiring and like being “dropped in the super cold water”. After her enlightening and informative presentation, a quick question and answer session followed. Issa S from Kuwait asked, “Could you please state your thoughts on the complacency of world leaders?” In response, Marie-Claire explained that the youth have the power to implement solutions in order to get the attention of others and make differences in our communities. Whilst climate activism does, of course, involve politics, sometimes the small differences we can make can have a huge impact.
To round off the opening ceremony, Francisco Abad, Executive Director of Codeis, a social enterprise empowering people in Latin America through social innovation and leadership training, gave a small crash-course on pitching skills and how to make speeches more persuasive. He emphasized that the use of logos (logic) along with pathos (emotional appeal), along with having a strong ending, can make speeches significantly more persuasive.
The MUN Impact Global Summit 2.0 formally began as Co-SG Hugh McDowell announced the formal opening. The tone set throughout the opening ceremony definitely left participants inspired and excited for the following days’ activities and events. The Press Team wishes everyone an excellent summit and hopes everyone is prepared to be inspired by our wonderful speakers!
The full recorded session of this workshop can be accessed here.