Welcome back on this blog! We hope all of you had a good start into this new year and are looking forward to all of the exciting things that are going to happen in 2018.
The NMUN Tübingen Delegation 2018, or to be specific, Delegate Lena Cordes, started strong into the new year with an article about our work. Lena was kind enough to sit down and talk with a reporter from her local „Kreiszeitung“ about Bahrain, National Model United Nations, and her work as a delegate. The article is really well-written and captures the challenges and rewards we face in our preparation for the biggest UN simulation in the world.
So thank you, Lena, for your time and effort and a huge thanks to the Kreiszeitung Bremen as well to report about us!
As a delegate, you have a lot to do: you have to learn about how the UN (and especially your committee!) works, what the country you are going to represent has done in the past and plans to do in the future, and doing a lot of fundraising work. And even though this is all interesting and fun in its own right, our delegates were delighted to switch the computers for a mug of mulled wine, tactical discussions for light conversation, and notes for Secret Santa presents (Wichtelgeschenke). And as you can see, we had a lot of fun that evening while getting to know each other better.
So thank you for the party department for planning everything to make this party as lively and memorable as it was!
A big shoutout is also due to the student group „Unterwegs“ who were kind enough to let us borrow their rooms for our party – the party would not have been the same if we had to celebrate in our usual seminar room!
No matter which one of our delegates you would have asked this question, the answer would have been the same. Writing a Position Paper.
So while our friends and families enjoyed their weekend, did some Christmas Shopping, or simply stayed at home doing nothing, our delegates worked hard to finish their first drafts. To help us during the writing phase, we already did a lot of research beforehand on Bahrain’s opinion on certain topics and their national and international actions, including voting records at the UN, proposed laws, national campaigns, and statements by Bahraini officials. We collected all of this research in our „Landmark Documents“ two weeks prior to the Position Paper Writing. The Landmark Documents are an excellent way for us keep track of the points that are most essential to our preparations as delegates and list the most important resolutions and treaties, to which we can go back to if we need a quick reminder on what the international (or national Bahraini) position is right now.
A Note on Position Papers
A Position Paper is the first vital step towards the negotiations. It contains which treaties and resolutions a country has signed, which measures it has undertaken to match the goals proposed in the resolutions and its ideas for further improvement on these issues. And since the Position Papers will all be uploaded before the conference, writing a well-structured and easily comprehensible paper is vital for the upcoming negotiations – potential allies will read them and decide based on the presented positions whether to engage with this country in negotiations and resolution writing or not.
So even though the Position Paper Writing was a challenge in itself, it was helped by a thorough preparation and some mutual help and motivation within and outside of our respective committees. 🙂
Tübingen is famous for many things: the castle Hohentübingen, the university and its faculties, and many, many bicycles. But the cultural phenomenon that draws most tourists to the city is the annual chocolate market. More than 300.000 people are visiting the Chocol’ART each year.
While the first snowflakes covered mugs filled to the brim with hot chocolate, mulled wine or punch, our delegates braved the cold and worked on counting the visitors as well as doing surveys. Some of the delegates spent up to 14 hours and more on the market, all while working on their Landmark Documents, which will provide our delegates with the information they need in the upcoming negotiations and resolution writing phase.
We would like to thank our delegates for the time and effort they put in their work last week – the raised money will be a huge help in paying for our trip to New York in March! A special thanks is also due for the delegates that put up the timetables for the shifts and who organized everything: you did an amazing job!
On this note, we also would like to kindly ask anyone interested in sponsoring us to contact our delegation using the details below. Your help will not go unnoticed – we will add you to the sponsors page on our website and add a link to your business on our blog.
And if you need a counting or surveying team, we can be easily persuaded to put our expertise to use again!
When the delegates of the 2018 Tübingen delegation entered the seminar room on December 5th, there was a surprise waiting for them: three of last years delegates visited us. They were, however, not only present to share their experience with us, but challenged our delegates with an entertaining but also educational exercise: how to deal with insensitive and incooperative delegates.
This so-called “stress-simulation” helped the delegates to understand what it means to work in an international environment that relies heavily on cooperation between members; an environment, that is formed by the values and norms of multiple countries that come together as the United Nations. This simulation was therefore not only informative but also provided the delegates with several tactics on how to respond swiftly and confidently, if similar circumstances occur at the NMUN conference in New York.
A huge thanks to the former delegates for practising with us in their free time and for their valuable tips and tricks on how to deal with challenging situations. We have definitely learned a lot and being put to the test like this has us even more anticipated for the conference in March!
During the weekend from Saturday, November 18th to Sunday, 19th, the delegates of the 2018 Tübingen delegation experienced their first UN simulation. And even though it was being held in private, with only the Tübingen delegates and our instructors present, it was still equal parts overwhelming and enlightening.
Shy, wide-eyed, and unsure about what to do we sat at our designated places at the beginning of our first simulation at 10 am on Saturday. Having learned the rules of procedure by heart, we knew what we might expect from this first simulation. But putting these rules and motions to practice was a completely different level, that put our delegates to the test: How do I raise a motion? How do I convince others to debate the topic that is most important to my country? How do I write a draft resolution, let alone a working paper? Those are just a few questions that we asked ourselves before and during the first day of the simulation.
But after only a few hours and some short feedback from our instructors, there were a lot of changes visible: The delegates became more comfortable in speaking in front of others, the draft resolutions started to take shape, and by the end of the simulation on Sunday afternoon, the delegates had become confident in their roles as representatives of a variety of different countries.
Therefore, we want to thank our instructors, our two head delegates and our faculty advisor, Bettina, Jovana, and Nora, for all the time and effort they put in providing us with this great first experience. And though we still need to learn a lot about writing resolutions and negotiation tactics, it is safe to say that we feel a whole lot more comfortable now with the rules of procedure and our roles as delegates. So thank you all for an educational and fun weekend!
We are delighted to announce that Tübingen´s 2018 delegation to the National Model United Nations has been formed. The upcoming March, we will be honored to represent the Kingdom of Bahrain in New York.
Our delegation consists of students from a variety of disciplines, adding different fields of expertise and skills. We are convinced that this will prove to be invaluable during the preparation process as well as the simulation itself.
Ever wondered what the work of the UN looks like? How the resolutions you might have heard about came to pass? What diplomats do when they meet in New York every year?
Become part of the Tübingen NMUN delegation and participate in one of the biggest UN simulations worldwide. We start preparations in October and you will be ready to change the world by the time we fly to New York City for the conference in March 2018. All that is required of you at the moment is to sign in to the two obligatory courses on Campus and show up to our first session on Oct 17th. For more information about the requirements see https://nmun-tuebingen.de/participate/.
We are looking forward to an exciting semester and a fun, fruitful conference in New York!
After six months of hard preparation all our work payed off. Not only did the delegation win several awards, but we also had great fun participating in the numerous committees.
We enjoyed the cooperative atmosphere during the conference and the opportunity to visit the United Nations General Assembly Hall. We want to thank the Philippines Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York for having us. We got a tremendous insight in their work and through the knowledge we gained, we were able to represent the Philippines position even better.
Now NMUN 2017 is over and we all can look back with huge satisfaction on what each of our delegates achieved. We all had a great experience.
At this point, we want to thank all our supporters on our way to New York and especially Robin, Alex, and Bettina for their great guidance in our preparation.
This week our delegation traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, for four days. We had the great chance to visit some UN institutions relevant to our preparations for NMUN. The trip gave us huge insights into the work of real diplomats as well as of employees of the UN.
On our first day, we visited the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and we attended a guided tour through the Palais des Nations. Between these two appointments, three of us went to the small International Atomic Energy Agency office (IAEA) in Geneva, while the others had the opportunity to explore the city in the meantime.
On our second day, we went to the German Permanent Mission in Geneva, where we got real insights in the work of diplomats. The World Health Organization (WHO) was our next destination. After a strengthening meal in the WHO cafeteria, we heard two detailed presentations on the important work of the WHO. However, the most exiting appointment for all of us was the visit to the Philippine Consulate General in Geneva. Here we leaned one of the most important lessons in representing the Philippines in New York: always keep smiling!
To relax after the long day we went to the Lac de Genève where we enjoyed delicious cheese fondue. We are thanking all institutions we visited for having us; we had a great time in Geneva.
