Ghanaian delegation excels at Harvard Model UN Summit

The flag of Ghana was lifted high when the country’s 18-member delegation to this year’s Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN) Summit in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States of America excelled after emerging winners in the Social Venture Challenge contest last month.

The 64th Session of the HNMUN attracted 3000 student delegates from over 50 countries to stimulate the workings of the United Nations using educational and diplomatic engagements.

The 4-day event saw thousands of tertiary students from all continents converging at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel to pitch to judges in a highly competitive manner on smart approaches towards the resolution of common issues and challenges.

The Ghanaian team emerged winners after three of their pitched concepts and proposals were selected for Fellowship during the Social Venture Challenge organized by conference partners, The Resolution Project.

The winning team from Ghana were Fiona Opoku-Mensah, a student from University of Cape Coast and co-founder of Invert Recycling, an initiative aimed at turning waste into wealth; Kofi Amoako Baah of the Ghana Institute of Journalism and Founder of Alphabets For Life, an audio-visual assisted reading project for public schools to enhance their reading fluency and vocabulary; Founders of the Adehye Learning Initiative, a community development programme that seeks to improve IT learning in rural communities in Ghana, Kwasi Appiah Okrah from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration; and Priscilla Wepia Ametame of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.

The Social Venture Challenge is a programme that allows HNMUN delegates to build teams and submit their plans for actual social ventures to make an impact on their local communities. The winners of the Social Venture Challenge are then nominated to be Resolution Fellows.

They will receive seed funding and strong advisory support for their ventures.

There are already more than 150 Fellows on all 6 continents working in diverse, high­-impact fields such as education, healthcare, human rights, water resources, and sustainability.

The obviously elated award winners, pledged to pursue their various social projects back home to bring positive change in the lives of people.
Ghana’s delegation led by the Executive Director of Lifelink Friendship Schools-Ghana, Mr Ernest Gyimah-Danquah comprised of tertiary students from the University Of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana Institute of Journalism and Central University.

Life Link Friendship Schools Ghana, annually organises series of Model UN programmes for Junior and Senior High Schools as well as tertiary institutions exposing participants to the word of diplomacy, negotiations, teaching them about global issues, leadership and crisis resolution.

The HUMUN has been running for almost 70 years and has been behind the education and training of thousands of students who eventually became successful diplomats, entrepreneurs and scholars.

The delegation has since returned to Ghana.