Who are we?
MUNers Across Borders (MAB) is a youth-led NGO that aims to bridge young minds and cultivate cross-border cooperation and understanding around youth involvement at the UN and in the international community. We promote the values and work of the United Nations in the international arena and represent the voice of young diplomats expressing tomorrow’s opinions on global issues. Our main goal is to bring together all MUNers and interested youth on an internationally recognised UN day to celebrate United Nations simulations on March 18th every year. We hope to call this ‘World Model UN Day’!
The first Model United Nations took place in March 1943 in New York, simulating what a possible world with the Declaration of the United Nations would look like! It was a ground-breaking idea, drawing from simulations that came before it, and paving the way for what MUN looks like today! We also like to recognise the first simulation of an international organisation in November 1921, where students at Oxford simulated the League of Nations in the Oxford International Assembly!
MUN History
WMD History
On March 18th 2021, World Model UN’s team first sat down with high-level diplomats, future diplomats, passionate MUNers, and our partners to bring to life informative and educational panels, discussing career development, global cooperation, and of course, MUN-related topics. The panels were broadcasted live on the HeySummit platform and were watched by hundreds of viewers from around the globe. This year, our viewers-base grew to more than double the size of 2021 and so has our partnership list, which includes influential organisations in the MUN sphere.
We have enlarged the scope of our work to drive greater impact, and thus, we now operate as MUNers Across Borders; the parent governing body of our organisation. With our ever-growing list of partnerships, we plan to create a collaboration hub for all MUN societies and youth-led diplomatic initiatives to funnel a united voice. Our first step towards this goal is organising the 2023 World MUN Day in a hybrid format to allow greater participatory and inclusive opportunities, regardless of financial or geographic barriers. It will involve high-ranking keynote speakers, workshops, panels and much more.
Our Future
Sustainability matters today more than ever.
We, as MUNers Across Borders, are committed to promoting sustainability, resilience, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through our partnerships and actions. Our aim is to move conversations and thoughts targeting all the 17 SDGs through two main goals:
Goal 4 — Quality Education
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
We believe that the core essence of Model United Nations allows its participants to venture on a journey of self-development and self growth, alongside achieving social-impact goals. Hence, emerged our top priority goal to promote and ensure an enabling environment for MUNers; to continue learning and reflecting on their journey towards adopting positive changes in themselves and their communities. Tracing back to our beginning, during a time of uncertainty and a forced-halt of services, we made use of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the concept of MUN remained close to the surface and began the celebrations during those unprecedented times.
Goal 17 — Partnerships for the Goals
Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
Through our events, we aim to connect hundreds of MUN societies, clubs, and organisations to enhance the global partnership of MUNs and thus the sharing of knowledge between them to support the SDGs. We focus on developing MUN and its knowledge in developing countries, sharing best practices and encouraging discussions on the SDGs through our annual March event commemorating the first ever MUN Summit. Our work includes collaboration with national permanent representations and policymakers to push the benefits and values of MUN, encouraging them to develop more effective ways to ensure youth participation in the UN and international bodies.
