To conclude this IV edition, Youth MUN Madrid held its final conference last weekend on June 11, 12 and 13.
On this occasion, an edition in which Youth MUN Madrid, the Social Promotion Foundation, with the collaboration of the “la Caixa” Foundation and the support of the FABRE Foundation, has adapted the IV the MUN leadership and awareness program to the “new normality” derived from the COVID-19 crisis, with the aim of making it more accessible and inclusive for adolescents of any social, economic or cultural situation, and empowering facilitators (teachers, social educators and volunteers) to raise awareness of the value of interculturality.
To this end, in October 2020, it launched a new bilingual (Spanish/English) online program, in which more than 320 young people and 40 facilitators from 12 Spanish cities (Madrid, Alcalá de Henares, Zaragoza, Almería, Barcelona, Santiago de Compostela, Santander, Murcia, Alicante, Valladolid, Las Palmas de Gran Canarias and Palma de Mallorca) and countries such as Ireland, Turkey and Esuatini have participated.
Also introduced as a novelty was #iDeas2030, an initiative coordinated by the FABRE Foundation that has sought to promote among young people the development of local solidarity, sustainable and innovative projects, with a global outlook supporting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in their environment.
Finally, the closing conference of this IV edition took place last weekend. The opening ceremony was held on June 11 at the Senate in Madrid. Subsequently, on the 12th and 13th, at the Colegio Los Tilos in Madrid, the delegates met by committees, 8 in total, in search of joint solutions to the world’s problems.
Thus, 92 young people participated in the following committees and topics in English: : HHRR “The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age”; SOCHUM “Press freedom in the modern era”; WHO “Providing medical aid to rural regions in low-poverty countries”; y FAO “Ensuring equitable access to food to reduce hunger and malnutrition”.
In addition, 71 other young people participated in these committees and topics in Spanish: UN WOMEN “The issue of violence against women and girls”; WHO “The importance of global cooperation to prevent possible future pandemics”; UNDP “Social and labor integration of people with disabilities”; and ECOSOC “Preventing the financing of terrorist organizations to avoid endangering international peace and stability”.
Also to be taken into account are the more than 300 students who participated in the online program.
Lucía Sobrado, a girl from Galicia who has been part of this IV edition of Youth MUN and whose initiative proposed as #iDea2030 resides in carrying out a campaign to reduce menstrual poverty in her local area, concluded at the end of last weekend:
“These three days have been special, a dream come true. The experience would not have been the same without you, who have made the Conference one of the best experiences of my life”.
