OPENING OF THE 2019 LTMUN CONFERENCE
Over 150 young delegates across the country, from 16th to 18th July, 2019, gathered at the Accra International Conference Centre for the Life-Link Tertiary Model United Nations Conference (LTMUN 2019) to deliberate on pressing global issues that confront the world economy, peace and security, and fundamental human rights and freedoms.
This year’s theme, “Achieving a Sustainable Development Goals, a collective Responsibility”, calls on young individuals to act as change agents to ensure the realisation of the SDGs by 2030. This call coined the key message for this year’s conference: #GreatTimeToBeYoung.
“Take up initiatives, resolve them. Let’s work together to ensure that we become agents of change in our various communities”, Mr. Ernest Gyimah Danquah, Chief Executive Officer of Life Link Friendship Schools admonished delegates in his opening address.
In a remark by the UNICEF Representative Coordinator a.i., Anne-Claire Dufay, she emphasized collectivism towards the attainment of the SDGS and called on Government, NGO’s and the public to actively partake in the implementation of the SDGs. “Public awareness of the SDGs is very low, making it difficult in driving accountability for the implementation. We need major public awareness campaign to whip up public ownership and to drive accountability.”
Since the implementation of the SDGs, it has been realised that inequality still persists and large disparities remain in access to health and education services.
“No one can do it alone. It does not rely on government alone, but all of us as individuals, state and non-state actors have a responsibility to work at achieving this goal. Thus, the tagline, Leave No One Behind” – Mr. Emmanuel Sin-Nyet Asigri, CEO of the National Youth Authority also noted when he took his turn to address the delegates and the press. He further noted that while public financing of the SDGs remain critical, private sources of investment plays a critical role in shaping the future. Huge investments in infrastructure, education, health, migration, and adequate skills to prepare young people for the digital economy is vital to ensuring that we achieve a demographic dividend.
Delegates were encouraged to pragmatically contribute to solutions on present societal issues, not only through talks, but solution driven initiatives for a better future.
Life Link Tertiary Model United Nations conference is organised yearly by Life-Link Friendship Schools to give young people the opportunity to mock the United Nations. The conference is a platform to deliberate on pressing global issues and generate solutions. A peripheral event to harness this idea is the Botaepa Social Venture Challenge where some delegates pitched for seed funding of up to 5000 Cedis to embark on socially-impacting projects.
By Emmanuel Kwesi Gyan
