My First MUN Conference at OFS – MUNOFS
Since the 1st of November from the 3rd of November, I attended my first MUN conference -MUNOFS.
I was allocated as a delegate of Denmark, in the environment committee. The given 3 topic was: 1. Prohibition of the use of GMO 2.Prohibition of the use of pesticides 3. The alternative solutions for illegal trafficking of orangutans and other endangered species. Amond these 3 topics, I focused on the usage and production of pesticides.
As this conference was my first MUN conference, I was really nervous about it because I did not know much about how the system goes, and most of all, I am not really a great speaker.
On day 1, we did not begin our conference. We had a workshop session from the diverse experts from various fields and learn more about globalization, which was the theme of MUNOFS this year.
On day 2, we finally began our conference, and at first, we all had to go up to the podium and recite our opening speech in order for the other delegates to have a sense about which delegate is focusing on which topic, and what is their country’s stance for the issue. Then we had ‘Lobby’, which is a period given for the delegates to merge all of our resolutions with different delegates and form a whole new resolution about it. Our group had made 7 clauses throughout our resolution, and 5 of them were mine which made me proud of the time that I struggled to develop my clauses 🙂
On the final day, it was our group’s turn to present our resolution to the delegates. Except for the POIs made about the resolution that this is too MEDC based, our resolution has passed smoothly. The reason that our resolution was MEDC based is that most of our clauses of the resolution came from mine, which was ‘Denmark’ based. So I learned that no matter the country that I am allocated into is either MEDC or LEDC, I should not make the resolution too focused on my country, but also focus on other nations so as to make the resolution be able to apply it for every country.
In addition, to be honest, until day 3, I was still deficient in speaking in front of the podium, answering all the POIs that delegates give to me as I don’t really speak English fluently. However, thanks to a friend that I met at the conference, she gave me a lot of courage to make amendments and to speak up, which made me speak at least 4 times in front of the podium, answering my POIs, and making my amendment pass!
From this conference, I think I earned really valuable things; I gained confidence in speaking in public, met a lot of valuable friends, experienced a constructive debate about global issues with people who have each different perspective. As the memory that MUNOFS gave to me was really memorable and valuable, I am preparing for my other conference which will be held on December 5th to 7th in AIS. For this conference, I am a delegate of Samoa in Human Rights Council, which is the committee that I wanted to participate. I am really looking forward for my next conference, and I hope that it will give as good experience as the MUNOFS did to me!