ITF: A Proud Co-Organizer of MUNSC Salient 2017
The 4th edition of MUNSC Salient – Youth Conference on Global Matters, organized by Model United Nations Slovenia Club (MUNSC), has seen the participation and involvement of ITF. ITF proudly supports student-led initiatives and youth involvement, which aim at stimulating students and developing interactive educational experiences regarding human rights and post-conflict resolution. This year’s conference theme of Hidden Faces of War made it a congenial opportunity for ITF, given its long-standing expertise, to discuss the topic through its activities relating to human security work allowing students to comprehensively understand those dimensions of war and conflict that tend to remain unnoticed.
At the opening ceremony Mr Iztok Hočevar, ITF Project Manager, delivered the keynote address to the participants. During his talk, he discussed the numerous realities that he encountered first hand through his experience in the field.
In addition, ITF was asked to help create the conference’s workshop. The goal of the workshop was to give all participants a chance to gain greater knowledge and insight through an interactive exercise. It involved various aspects of human security, namely demining activities, health and victim assistance, agriculture and development, capacity building, conventional weapons destruction and refugees. The activity was above all a learning experience through a team building exercise based on an interactive game simulation where participants had to answer questions pertinent to post-conflict situations accompanied by a narrative mix of real life stories of victims involved in conflict-related incidents.
ITF’s role in MUN Salient also included the participation of Katarina Cvikl Balić, ITF Project Manager, as a speaker at a round-table session titled Human Capital in Post-Conflict Development. The talk was lively and delineated the multifaceted implications of post-conflict restructuring of societies and the numerous obstacles people and communities affected by violent conflict face in rebuilding their lives. The discussion focused on the need of human capital to ensure successful post-conflict societal rehabilitation as well as the challenges faced by international institutions, including ITF, in creating the long-term stability and development for countries trying to reach peace.
ITF thanks MUNSC for providing us with the opportunity to participate actively and extensively in the organization and content creation of the event, and hopes to be involved in such events in the years to come.