ADD DEPTH TO THE DIALOGUE: EXPLORE OUR RESOURCES
Researching your assigned country and topic will help you to understand your nation’s position on the issues and leave you better prepared for conference. This section offers resources for students while completing research, for parents in preparation to send their delegates to a conference, and for teachers in planning and strengthening their Model UN teams.
Click on the relevant tab below to see the list of available resources.
Please download our CCWA Delegate Preparation Guide to assist you as you prepare for our conferences.
Resources for Chairs
Please download the relevant documents below to help you prepare for conference. Use the guides to learn or remind yourself of the proper parliamentary procedures to use during conference.
Document: CCWA Model UN Rules of Procedure
Document: CCWA Rules of Procedure Short Form (chart)
Document: CCWA MUN Formal Chair Manual
Document: Overview of Parliamentary Procedure
Resources for Advisors
Model UN Basics
Document: Helpful Hints for Teachers
Document: CCWA Advisor Manual_MUN
Document: Position Paper Guidlines
Document: Sample Resolution
Document: CCWA MUN Scoring System
If you would like to use the Country Profile worksheet as a tool, you are welcome to do so, but CCWA no longer requires its submission.
Other Important Documents
Use the Country Matrix to help your delegates choose countries and committees, or, if you prefer to view the lists in a word document, here are the Committees and Topics for each conference.
Prior to a conference, please ask your delegates to sign and return (and have their parents sign and return) the Delegate Code of Conduct and Release Form. You may bring these forms to the opening day of the conference.
Resources for Delegates
Please download the relevant documents below to help you prepare for conference. Use the guides to learn or remind yourself of the proper parliamentary procedures to use during conference. Background guides with summaries of the issues for each committee’s topics can be found on the Committees and Topics page.
Document: CCWA Model UN Rules of Procedure
Document: CCWA Rules of Procedure Short Form (chart)
Document: Model UN Liability Release Form (to sign and return to CCWA for each conference)
Online Research Resources
Use these online resources:
- To research your committee’s topics
- To Learn what your country’s views of the issue are and how the problem has affected your nation in the past or could affect it in the future.
- To better understand the topic from your country’s perspective, to enable you to participate more in debates during conference.
Country-Specific Resources
- United Nations Member States http://www.un.org/en/members/index.shtml ) provides a great information about UN Member States and their involvement and contributions at the UN throughout the years.
- The CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/) is an excellent resource to find basic information on your country’s economy, government, and demographics.
- The World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/ ) deals in financials all over the world, and its website offers a wealth of economic and social data that can be searched by country or by particular statistic.
- UNICEF’s flagship publication, The State of the World’s Children, (Data by country can be searched here: http://www.unicef.org/statistics/index_countrystats.html)offers social statistics on many countries, with a special focus on the well-being of children.
- African Union (http://au.int/en/member_states/countryprofiles ) provides member state profiles for African countries.
- European Union (http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm ) in addition to providing member state profiles for European countries it also has topic based resources for navigation.
- If It were My Home (http://www.ifitweremyhome.com), A country comparison tool that can be used to compare living conditions in your own country to that you are representing.
Topic-Specific Resources
- FAOSTAT (http://faostat3.fao.org/home/index.html), offers a comprehensive database of international food and agricultural statistics. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (http://www.cgiar.org/), offers the latest in agricultural research that aims to reduce poverty and promote sustainable growth.
- The Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All: Meeting our Collective Commitments outlines the educational goals that governments should be striving toward, with emphasis on education for girls, and can be accessed here: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/
- The publications section of the UN Women site (http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications) offers informative reports and article on the current state of women’s equality across the globe.
- Google scholar (http://scholar.google.com/) is nice tool for finding more scholarly online articles about your topic. Be aware that the full article might not always be accessible if a subscription is required to use a database.
Previous UN Action
Another important facet of research is looking into what previous actions the UN has taken on the topics that will be discussed. Some good resources for this include:
- UN Documentation: How to Find UN Documents: http://research.un.org/en/docs/find/documents
- United Nations Research page, Brookings Institution: http://www.brookings.edu/research/topics/united-nations#/?tab=1
- United Nations Search By Topic, LegislateOnline: http://legislationline.org/topics/organisation/2/topic/12
- United Nations Member States “On the Record,” the official archives of the UN: http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/unms/
Current Events and Developments
When researching more specific issues, or looking into more recent developments in a country, news articles can be a valuable source of updated information. The following are examples of resources to utilize.
- Al Jazeera English: http://www.aljazeera.com/
- Arab World News: http://wn.com/arab_world_news
- Asia News Network: http://www.asianewsnet.net/
- Asia Times: http://atimes.com/
- BBC World: http://www.bbc.com/news/world
- CBC World: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world
- CNN International Edition: http://edition.cnn.com/?hpt=header_edition-picker
- The Economist: http://www.economist.com/
- The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/us
- International Crisis Group: http://www.crisisgroup.org/
- New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
- NPR International: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/127602464/international/
- One World News Service: http://www.oneworld.net/
- Time: http://time.com/
- The UN Foundation’s “UN Wire,” which provides daily or weekly email digests of news stories relating to the UN and its work.
- The Wall Street Journal: http://www.wsj.com/
- The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
- World News Network: http://wn.com/
- World Press Review: http://www.worldpress.org/
UN Committees and International Organizations
Below are the links to the websites of the UN bodies that correspond to each committee. These sites provide detailed overviews of topics that the committees address, and may also provide country profiles that explain how the issues affect certain nations. (Links can also be found on the Committees and Topics page). Additional links have been included for various international organizations that work closely with the United Nations on various issues.
- United Nations Home Page: http://www.un.org/en/index.html
- UN Secretary General: http://www.un.org/sg/index.asp
- UN General Assembly: http://www.un.org/en/ga/
- UN Security Council: http://www.un.org/en/sc
- UN Economic and Social Council: http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/
- UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: http://www.ohchr.org
- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: http://www.unocha.org/
- UN High Commissioner for Refugees: http://www.unhcr.org
- UN Women: http://www.unwomen.org/
- UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/
- UN Food and Agriculture Organization: http://www.fao.org
- World Health Organization: http://www.who.int
- The African Union: http://www.au.int/
- Organization of American States: http://www.oas.org/en/
- World Bank Group: http://www.worldbank.org/
- International Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm
- World Trade Organization: https://www.wto.org/
- International Atomic Energy Agency: https://www.iaea.org/
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization: http://www.nato.int/
- International Court of Justice: http://www.icj-cij.org/homepage/
- European Union: http://europa.eu/index_en.htm
- Association of South East Asian Nations: http://www.asean.org/
We hope that the video of a mock committee session will help you review and prepare for your conference: