Model UN Speakers Attend Debate Conference in SA

Model United Nations Namibia (MunNam) pupils who impressed at the recent conference for high school students in Windhoek earlier this year were selected to attend the South African Model UN (SamUN) conference which took place in Cape Town from 16 to 20 October.

Hosted by the United Nations Information Centre (Unic) Windhoek, MunNam brought together 150 delegates from 23 various high schools to debate the topic ‘Measures to Eradicate Child Labour’ including analyses of the negative and positive aspects concerning child labour.

Anthea Basson, head and national information officer of Unic Windhoek expressed the importance of these conferences.

“Model UN allows students to take on the persona of a diplomat and the conference creates that platform not only to learn about the world but also to address issues that affect us all in this era of globalisation. Being globally aware is more important than ever.”

Leadership skills are developed, as the Model UN exercises the ability for students to research, speak publicly, negotiate and work in a team, said Basson.

Of the delegates who participated, only four were chosen to represent the country at the

SamUN conference.

These include the best speaker, Rachel Nghimulitete from Dawid Bezuidenhout High School, the best delegation which consists of Erike Kahamundu from Jan Möhr Secondary School and Bianca Mungunda from Windhoek Gymnasium, as well as the best female speaker, Martha Frans from Hochland High School.

Before her departure, Frans expressed her excitement at attending the conference. “I hope to gain more debating skills, a lot of knowledge about the topics at hand and to bring it back home to the benefit of our country, especially the youth.”

Frans also shared some tips for pupils who love to debate. “The secret to being a good speaker is having the ability to captivate your audience, not just with an intellectual document, but with the execution thereof as well.”

The Namibian delegation represented Canada in two Model General Assembly debates with the topics being ‘Weighing the Economic Benefits versus The Environmental Impact of Fracking’ as well as ‘State Sanctioned Homophobia: Universal Human Rights versus State Sovereignty’.

The event was officially hosted by Education South Africa.