An interview with Ayotunde John Aboderin, the new MUN Impact Director that is building an network of SDG champions through Model United Nations in southern Nigeria.
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Children, and most especially young people, are the future of a tomorrow that starts now. Youth must be encouraged at all times to be the best they can be. This, and much more, is what Model United Nations (MUN) stands for. MUN seeks to prepare future leaders and develop student skills by replicating the real United Nations. All students must be encouraged to participate when it comes to who should be involved in MUN. What is good for the goose is good for the gander; therefore all students irrespective of their backgrounds should be allowed to experience MUN.
Poverty and Accessibility of MUN
There is power in numbers and when different minds come together, amazing things happens. Bias selection of students who will be involved in MUN should be seen as discrimination, and this is against what MUN stands for. Poverty must not be seen as an excuse to exclude brilliant but poor students from MUN. They are just not as privileged as others are. Involving less privileged students in MUN could do so much for a student. It can boost their morale, introduce them to diplomacy and change their lives for better. The experience of doing Model United Nations could help shape their mindsets from thinking less of themselves to actually seeing themselves as a potential asset to the world.
Youth should see themselves as able to break barriers, and if they believe this at a young enough age they may do more with their lives. Youth need to be given chances to be involved in a life changing experiences like MUN. I therefore, strongly believe that everyone willing to make the world a better place should be given a chance and be encouraged to be involved in Model UN if they wish to.
Materials and Support
MUN is kind of advanced and as such require research and diggings. Instructional materials that could help know more about MUN proceedings, diplomacy and international issues is also needed. New MUNs will need more of these materials to thrive.
Networked Youth
Why is it important for young people to be networked and connected with other global youth from around the world? Networking is power and it is required to keep students together, help them learn more about MUN and the SDGs; it helps them share ideas and solutions.
Youth are the greatest asset in the world. In fact, youth make up for more than 1.1 billion people, which is the nearly the population of India. The number of young people along with children makes up 40% of the world’s population as of 2015. This shows lots of potentials that can canvas together to find real solutions to real problems in the world. When young people network and are connected, then brilliant innovation is bound to happen. Ideas, cultures, languages etc could be effectively shared. They say, two heads are better than one. The benefits of networking globally is enormous.
MUN Impact Nigeria
MUN Impact is envisaged to spread throughout Nigeria or at the very least to most Southern states in the next 5 years. We also hope to become a top leading educational platform/club that will be leadership, SDGS centred and present in most schools. We hope to organise international MUN and SDG conferences.
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Follow MUN Impact’s Nigeria partner on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/oyomun/
If you are interested in learning more about this emerging MUN-SDG program, contact Ayotunde Aboderin at aaboderin@munimpact.org.