Preparation
Two days in December. Here's how to walk in ready.
Everything a delegate needs before the gavel drops is on this page: the procedure, the research, the position paper, the sixty-second speech. Tick things off as you go — your checkmarks stay on this device. And if any of it sounds like jargon, Jasmine is in the bottom-right corner and translates fluently.
The delegate challenge
Five levels between you and an Excellent Preparation.
Level one is open now. Clear every task in it and the next one unlocks — no skipping ahead, that's the whole point.
The gavel drops 19–20 December
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days
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hours
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minutes
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seconds
That's enough time to do this properly. Start with level one below.
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Level 1 · The moment you're assigned
Learn your country like it's a person
Before policy, personality. You should be able to describe your state in sixty seconds without notes.
Where to actually look
- UN Digital LibraryResolutions, meeting records and voting data. Where real citations come from.
- The World FactbookYour country in ninety seconds: government, economy, neighbours, flags.
- UN Treaty CollectionWhat your country signed, ratified, or quietly ignored.
- World Bank Open DataThe numbers behind your argument — health, schooling, energy, jobs.
- UN Member StatesOfficial page for your delegation, with the head of state on record.
Five tabs, twenty minutes, and you'll know your country better than most people in the room.
Level 2 · Study guide drops on MyMun
Read the guide twice — the second time with a pen
Chairs write their study guides to be mined, not skimmed. The sources it cites are the real gold.
Level 3 · One week out
Write the position paper
Optional, but two nominees per committee take Best Position Paper — and writing one exposes the holes in your own argument first.
Level 4 · Two days out
Build a 60-second opening speech
One hook, one national position, one invitation to collaborate. Then use the timer below until it fits without rushing.
Hooks you can steal
Swap the numbers for your own research and say it out loud. Never open with "Honourable chair, fellow delegates".
- “Two million children in my region sleep in a classroom with no roof. My delegation is not here to admire the problem.”
- “We have read the report. We have also read the last four. That's why we're asking for something different today.”
- “My country has been through this. What we learned was expensive, and we're willing to share it.”
- “Before we vote, let's be honest about who is still waiting for this to reach them.”
Speech drill
0:60
Hit start and deliver your opening speech from memory.
Level 5 · Conference weekend
Work the room, not the podium
In UN4MUN the delegate who builds consensus outranks the one with the prettiest speech. Resolutions are written in informals.
Shortcut
Ask Jasmine to quiz you on your country
She'll grill you on your policy positions until your answers stop sounding like Wikipedia. Bottom right corner.
The way the real UN works
UN4MUN,
for real this time.
UN4MUN is the United Nations' own programme — built by the people who run the UN's actual meetings — to teach how diplomacy really works: consensus, patience, and no gavel-banging theatrics. Here's the story, the vocabulary, and where to read it from the source.
1920s
Students start playing diplomacy
Model simulations of international assemblies appear on campuses — the great-grandparent of Model UN.
1945
The real United Nations is born
The rulebook we'll borrow starts here: dialogue first, decisions together.
2016
The UN launches UN4MUN
Through its Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, the UN builds its own answer to Model UN — based on how diplomacy actually works.
2017
Workshops at UN Headquarters
UN4MUN sessions begin in New York, teaching consensus over competition to MUN organizers from everywhere.
Today
UNGDS brings it to West Africa
Online, open, and in your time zone. Waaw, dégg nga — yes, for real.
SPEAK THE LANGUAGE · LE PETIT GLOSSAIRE
Consensus
Everyone can live with the text. No vote needed, no one steamrolled. The UN's favourite word.
Silence procedure
A draft passes unless someone speaks up before the deadline. Silence means yes.
Informal informals
The off-microphone huddles where the real deals get written. Yes, that's the actual name.
Co-sponsor
A delegation that signs onto a draft it helped shape. Sharing credit is the point.
Action phase
The endgame: the room reviews the draft line by line, then moves to adopt it.
Facilitator
The person steering negotiations toward agreement — a guide, not a judge.
Adoption
The moment the room says yes to the text. Ideally without a single vote.
Points of order
Nope — that's traditional MUN. UN4MUN keeps it conversational. Déh, relax.
DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT · SOURCES OFFICIELLES
Ready to practise it live? Return to the delegate challenge above and put your preparation into practice — step by step, sans panique.
The procedure, without the panic
UN4MUN, actually explained.
One room, one problem, and nobody gets to solve it alone. Countries state their position, then they talk to each other, then they write something together that every one of them can sign. Cooperation before competition — that's the whole idea, and it's how the real General Assembly runs.
Walk through a session
Three moves.
One shared outcome.
Choose what you would do as a delegate. Every step includes a line you can actually say in committee.
Speak.
The room hears every country.
Your country wants stronger reporting of stillbirths. How do you begin?
The procedure lab · UN4MUN vs traditional MUN
Know the rules.
Then play them better.
UNGDS uses UN4MUN, the procedure modelled on how the UN General Assembly really works. Tap each row to compare, then test yourself.
Which procedure is this? · 1/8
“Motion for a 10-minute moderated caucus, 45-second speaking time.”
The UNGDS position paper guide
One to Two pages, Max.
Header first: your country, your committee, your topic, your name. Then the body — and the body is where awards are decided. You can find a detailed Position Paper Guide on MyMun, via the documents section.
I
Topic background
What the issue is, why it matters now, and what the UN has already tried. Cite real instruments — resolutions, conventions, agency reports. Two short paragraphs, maximum.
II
Country position
Where your state actually stands, backed by votes, statements, ratifications and domestic policy. Strong alignment with your assigned national stance is what we grade hardest. If your country's position is uncomfortable, represent it anyway — that's the job.
III
Proposed solutions
Two or three concrete, fundable, realistic measures. Who implements it, who pays, who monitors it. 'Raise awareness' is not a solution and your chair has read it 400 times.
The skeleton
Copy this. Fill the blanks. Delete the brackets.
COMMITTEE: [committee name] COUNTRY: [your assigned country] TOPIC: [topic title] DELEGATE: [your name] I. TOPIC BACKGROUND [Two short paragraphs. What the issue is, why it matters right now, what the UN has already tried. Name the instrument: resolution, convention, agency report.] II. COUNTRY POSITION [Where your state actually stands. Back it with a vote, a statement, a ratification, or a domestic policy. Write it as "The delegation of…".] III. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS 1. [Measure] — who implements it, who pays, who monitors it. 2. [Measure] — who implements it, who pays, who monitors it. 3. [Measure] — who implements it, who pays, who monitors it. SOURCES [Listed at the end. Every borrowed idea acknowledged.]
One to two pages once it's written out. If a section can't fit, it didn't need saying.
Formatting
- · 1-2 pages, single-spaced, 12pt, readable serif or sans.
- · Third person, formal register — “The delegation of…”, never “I think”.
- · Sources listed at the end, or footnoted. Acknowledge every borrowed idea.
- · PDF, named: Committee_Country_YourName.
Read this twice
AI-generated work is severely penalised — it disqualifies you from every award. If a submission is both plagiarised and AI-generated, you won't receive so much as a participation certificate. Use Jasmine to learn, research and rehearse. Not to write.
UN4MUN, decoded