Confidence, Cooperation and Change!

On 19th and 20th of September 2020, I took part in my first-ever Model United Nation, better known as MUN. Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations where students play the role of delegates from different countries. The delegates attempt to solve real-world problems with the policies and perspectives of their assigned country. The one that I took part in is called the International MUN or IMUN. Out of the blue a friend of mine suggested it and my exams were too ending that week so I thought why not give it a shot. Taking part in an MUN has always been very high on my to-do list and I registered very early without exploring the event as I thought the seats would be filled if I would be delayed. I decided to read about the event after my seat confirmation. Fortunately for me, checking details about the MUN after my registration was a blessing in disguise. I would have otherwise imagined about a million different ways in which I could mess up in a MUN having delegates from 45 different countries!

I have never taken part in a debate in my life and then suddenly jumping into this would have been my worst nightmare. Fortunately for me, I didn't back out as I had already registered and was preoccupied with exams. But me being me of course I went through a few things about MUN in general. I had to learn how MUN functions. I went through the rules in the handbook they sent and could barely understand anything. During this time I had been allotted to my committee which was UN women and my country was Iceland. The topic of my committee was economic empowerment and skill development of young women. Iceland is the leader of Gender equality in the world. It has done some fantastic work in the field of women rights with things such as equal pay and paternal leave. Made my life so much easier! During this time a whatsapp group with all the delegates from my committee had been formed. When they all came forward to introduce themselves, I realised there were people ranging from high schoolers to graduate and postgraduates students. Also there were 110 people in my committee! I was wondering for the whole while as to what I was thinking before I registered here. Oh I know, I wasn't at all! The next few days of research were a blur as it went in preparing a position paper.


On the day of the MUN they gave us a 2 hours of introduction to MUN where they told us about different rules of an MUN and the decorum that had to be followed. We also had an amazing talk by Simone Filippini who talked about the vital roles of Leadership to achieve the sustainable development goals or SDGs. It was a very inspiring talk and the need of the hour. We are required to step-up for the right things! In the start of the first session, I was so blank as to what had to be done. I knew what an MUN consists of but didn't have the lines connecting it. I had prepared an opening speech for a minute. I had researched about my country. A little bit about other countries and the topic in general. That was about it. When the committee started I was confused as to how to approach the issue. I didn't have a solution to the problem in mind. All I was looking forward to was finishing with my opening speech. Which I realised was not enough.

Let me talk about my committee- It was a very diverse and vocal committee dominated by women which was extremely heartening. Almost everyone spoke and had a part in the discussions .Everyone was unique and special in their own way. The chairs were considerate and helpful.

Now coming back to the IMUN, There were few topics that we discussed. One of them was equal pay. It is very sad to know that women are paid much less than their male counterparts. So that was our topic of our draft resolution as well! Everyone had important and necessary points of how the Draft resolution could be improved. That is the thing about MUNs as much as you need to debate and fight, you need to cooperate and work as a team too!
Finally after sitting for 2 days for 7 hours each day in front of a device the MUN had come to the end with the passing of the resolution. As soon as the final call of the day was made, all of us jumped and clapped. We had some time after the final draft resolution was passed when we could interact with each other and we did. We laughed about how most of us were clueless of the happenings in the session. Also talking about pets, siblings, sunsets and so many more things. We were joking and having fun. I love meeting new people from different cultures and places and I got to meet so many new people from different parts of the world here. It was without a doubt my most favourite part of the MUN.

Throughout the MUN, I was wondering to myself whether I was doing enough? Whether I was making valid points? Whether I was doing what was necessary? Even in these moments of self doubt, I instructed myself to raise my hand and speak. I knew in my heart that I could do it but when I was able to speak it out I proved it to myself . That is what confidence is. The more you achieve, the more it enhances. I kept on contributing whenever I felt like I could and the fulfillment I got from it was tremendous. I didn't dominate my committee or win best delegate. I was happy just to be able to contribute to my committee because that was the goal I backed myself to achieve. I didn't dream of being the best delegate in my first MUN ever! Confidence is necessary. A lot of times all of us think that just grinding continuously will help us succeed. But if you don't have the confidence to put the hard work to use then how will you succeed. The confidence to back your abilities in every situation. Like in the game of cricket, I have toiled in the nets but if I dont have the confidence to use it as I am intimidated by the bowler in front of me, what is the point of my hard work? So please try new things, work hard and don't be afraid to put your work in front of others. You might fail terribly but that will propel you to success. And failure will surely make you wonder what went wrong and you will look into it and surely rectify it. Thus you improve which is the biggest win. Even forcing your hand up and asking a question in class is a win.

As far as whether I was making valid points was cleared when I got a verbal commendation for my contributions which was not expected by me at all and was a cherry on the top of this enriching experience.

This MUN was truly one of the biggest learning experience I ever had not only in terms of debate but in terms of finding my own confidence in this public forum and proving to myself that I can compete with people older than me as well.