FMIPA UI Students Win Best Delegate Award at the 2021 EUROMUN Conference

FMIPA UI student, Savannah Jamal (Geography 2020), won an award ‘Best Delegate’ in the European Model United Nations event which was held online on May 13 – May 16, 2021.

At the conference, Savannah was allocated to the African Union as the Algerian State Delegation to discuss topics regarding Sustaining Peace Through Sustainable Development.

Savannah's journey began with participating in a university-level selection. Savannah and three other students were successfully selected to be delegates representing the University of Indonesia. Savannah also said that if the pandemic situation had improved, she and other representatives should have attended an offline conference at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

On the pre-race day, Savannah was given study guide contains aspects that must be brought from the topic. "After being given guide, I immediately did more in-depth research, especially about the country of Algeria and its relationship to the topic. Then, I made Position Paper (a kind of essay that explains the state of the country on a given topic). Before the competition started, I also practiced first with coach MUN me.” Savannah said as she recounted her journey during the pre-race.

The Model United Nations competition lasted for 4 days in Dutch time. On this occasion, Savannah created a framework for a solution idea called SMELT (Short, Medium, and Long Term) where each phase is based on the priorities of each country.

As the Algerian State Delegate, Savannah said that short term what needs to be done is to provide sufficient food during the period food insecurity in the country of Algeria which collaborates with several International Bodies from the UN. Meanwhile, on medium term, Savannah suggests agriculture diversification and marine economy as a way to overcome problems food insecurity. Lastly, for long-term, Savannah provides suggestions to preserve forests, ensure water availability, and preserve the sea so that its ecosystem is maintained.

During the competition period, Savannah also said that there were challenges that she had to go through. “There were definitely challenges. One of them was holding the competition in the middle of Eid al-Fitr. When my family was celebrating Eid, I had already started the competition for the next 4 days. In addition, the most significant challenge was the culture. Most of those from Europe had a one-sided understanding of each other, so it was a bit difficult to argue and negotiate with them.” Savannah said.

Besides that, Savannah also expressed her happiness when she was successfully selected as Best Delegate. He said that he became Best Delegate is a proof that we have the ability Leadership, Dominance, Influence, Problem Solving, Writing, Charismatic, Logic, and Communication Savannah explains that the essence of Model United Nations competition is the ability to direct debate and discussion in a direction where the committee is successful, namely when a resolution is successfully drafted.

“In this case, it becomes Best Delegate meaning I managed to direct the African Union Committee to get a good solution that other countries could agree to. Although branding my solution No entered, does not mean I No provide solutions, even many were inspired by my solutions during the committee." Savannah said enthusiastically.

At the end of the interview session, Savannah also gave her opinion that it is very important for other FMIPA UI students to be actively involved in competitions, especially international ones. Savannah realized how by participating in competitions, it can give her knowledge and experience that others may not have. In addition, Savannah also believes that by having achievements, it can also support students' track records such as making CVs and LinkedIn more attractive.

European Model United Nations (EuroMUN) 2021 is one of the prestigious conferences in Europe with the main topic this year being 'FORWARD through System Change’. The competition period starts from May 13 – May 16, 2021 until the announcement of the winners is announced on May 16, 2021.

Article compiled by FMIPA UI public relations contributor: Arrizqy Nadya Khairunissa Yulianto (Geography 2019)

News source: https://sci.ui.ac.id/