Model United Nations for Afghanistan

Afghan youth are rarely given equal opportunities to develop and improve their skills and spark a positive change. Although they have the potential to play an important role in the future of their communities, they are sidelined when it comes to important decision-making processes and as a result they are lacking diplomacy, debating and lobbying skills. On the other hand, Model United Nations culture is rapidly growing in Afghanistan, especially in the capital city of Kabul. What however is a constraint still is the lack of understanding of Rules of Procedure and organizational skills of MUN. In order to solve these issues and obstacles, Youth Thinkers’ Society (YTS), has taken this initiative to organize a program under the name MUN for Afghanistan.

YTS, through MUN for Afghanistan, will establish MUN clubs in different institutions as a contribution to the sustainability of the culture of MUN in the country. Members of these Model UN clubs after attending comprehensive trainings and workshops, will participate at the MUN conferences, which will then be organized in their respective cities. The program is for twelve different provinces of Afghanistan in the span of three years.

In the first year, there have been a series of Model United Nations conferences and trainings in five different provinces of Afghanistan so far by YTS. YTS will be focusing on university students and will encourage them to participate and enhance their capacity, especially in the areas of debating, diplomacy and lobbying. Moreover, this conference will attempt to create a platform for Afghan youth from these twelve targeted provinces to connect and work together in the future. Firstly, we will select provinces and universities and organize a series of workshops along with one MUN conference in each province. Secondly, we will invite top delegates from each of these provinces to Kabul and will organize one main conference for participants all the provinces. These conferences, following the main rules and procedures of MUN would also promote the culture of tolerance and acceptance. It will serve as a powerful forum for the participants to learn and share ideas while inspiring each other all along. This conference will motivate Afghan youth to think out of the box, be innovative and unlike the usual scenario, while identifying the problems, suggest solutions as well.