Faculty Advisor
Grußwort von Clarissa Neder
Political and Social Studies, 6th Semester
In diesem Jahr unterstützt Clarissa Neder unsere Delegation als Faculty Advisor. Mit Rat und Tat steht Sie uns zur Seite und begleitet uns auf unserem Weg nach New York. Bis März ist viel Arbeit zu erledigen, denn schließlich gilt es nicht nur ein fremdes Land im Detail kennenzulernen, sondern auch die zum Teil sehr verwirrenden Strukturen der UN zu verstehen. Wir danken Clarissa sehr herzlich für Ihr Engagement und Ihre inspirierende Art! Wir freuen uns schon sehr auf die intensive und interessante gemeinsame Zeit!
I am pleased that twenty students from different faculties have come together through the National Model United Nations to dedicate their time and effort to this project. I am particularly looking forward to accompanying you during the project, especially while in New York, and together with the coaches share personal experiences from past NMUN conferences in New York and Washington D.C.
During NMUN opening speeches, participants are often called the future leaders of tomorrow. This statement falls short. You as participants do not have to wait for the distant future to take up inspiring leadership roles. Through your participation and the skills you will learn throughout this project, you can already be leaders of today. One of the topics you will negotiate and debate on and then pass resolutions on in New York is "Increasing Youth Leadership and Participation in Society", which echoes this sentiment.
As a delegation, you will have the honor of representing Rwanda in eleven committees and spending an entire semester studying the country’s history, culture, and country specific and UN-specific challenges to successfully represent Rwanda in the committees in New York. The certainly complex institutional structure of the United Nations, the challenges of international relations and the world community can be better understood through the practical participation in a MUN. During the conference in New York, students from different studies, countries and continents will meet and instead of defending their personal positions they will defend the position of the country they represent at the highest diplomatic level. Although extremely opposing positions might be encountered during negotiations, consensus building and solutions are to be sought, written down and adopted, based on existing resolutions.
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Anan pointed out in a speech, that the United Nations work for and with the youth. He calls upon "all people, especially youth, to do their part. Everywhere I go and every chance I get, I urge young people to be global citizens, raise their voices and change our world. Tens of thousands of young people are already leading successful efforts. We need millions more to reach the goals". I am sure this delegation will enrich the world community with another very dedicated generation of global citizens and leaders of today.
I wish the delegation unforgettable experiences, an exciting time and much success!
