A Day in the UN Office

4 April 2018

First time in the United States, I made it to the United Nations headquarters in New York. The feeling was surreal, one I won’t forget in a hurry. Thanks to the University of Edinburgh Business school and Santander funding for contributing financially to this experience.

I was among the 2000 delegates selected globally to participate in the 2018 Future We want Model UN conference in New York from the 9 to 11 of March where global issues were to be debated. I arrived in Queens in New York on Thursday, 8 March at about 11pm. On Friday 9 March, I headed to The Westin Grand central hotel on 42nd street in Manhattan where the conference organizers had arranged a two day free accommodation for participants. On arrival, I checked into my hotel room then proceeded to register for the conference in the hotel lobby.

Later on in the evening at about 7pm, I left for New York Hilton Midtown on 6th avenue for the opening ceremony. In attendance was Tore Hattrem (UNICEF president and the representative of the permanent mission of Norway to the UN), Carla Mucavi (Director Food and Agriculture organisation NY Liaison office) and several other UN executives. The day ended with a welcome party at Grand Hyatt Hotel on 42nd street.

On the second day of the conference, I set out to the UN office in the morning where my co-delegate and I would represent the country of Belize in the Economic and Financial committee (ECOFIN). For the first time, I observed all the procedures of the UN during moderated and unmoderated caucus. My committee had a chair, deputy chair and Rapporteur. Prior to the conference, we were requested to submit a position paper on the topics of the debate: a) Access to clean water and sanitation and b) Agriculture development, food security and nutrition.

At the beginning of the morning session which was from 9am – 1pm, a motion was moved by the delegate representing Poland to begin the debate with the first topic. Votes were cast for and against the motion. By means of majority votes wins, the debate started with the first topic. Every country's delegate had 1 min to present findings about their country and recommendation for the challenges faced in the country. My co-delegate and I spoke about the effort of the Belize government to improve clean water and recommended more effort and resources should be channelled towards sanitation.

At about 12 pm, a motion was moved for a 15 mins unmoderated caucus; this is a time when delegates are allowed to move about and talk freely. We voted for and against. Again, majority of votes approach was applied and we did go on a 15 mins unmoderated caucus. During this 15 mins, I observed as delegates began to forge alliances. Delegates tried to convince other delegates to buy into their recommendation because by the afternoon session, we have to start a working paper geared towards producing a draft resolution for the UN by the last day. The session ended at 1 and by 2, we commenced the second (afternoon) session.

By the afternoon session, delegates began to work together to produce a working paper. There were more unmoderated caucus to convince fellow delegates to buy into recommendation. By the end of the session, we had sponsors and members group. The sponsor group was led by the delegate representing Azerbaijan with several other countries. Sponsors were countries that were able to form the strongest alliance and get to decide the recommendations. Members were other countries, Belize inclusive, who will automatically become voters.

The last day of the conference and the last session was on Sunday 11 March. We voted and with further adjustments, a draft resolution was produced by the ECOFIN committee for the United Nation.

Adaora Lilian Oragudosi, MSc Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Find more information about Santander funding under Opportunities.