São Paulo – Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce cultural director Silvia Antibas participated last Friday (7) in the closing event of the Model United Nations for High Schools (Monuem-Eresp). This year, public school students watched online classes to learn about foreign relations, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and build skills such as argumentation, self-confidence, empathy, cooperation, and others.
The idea is teaching students through a full simulation of a United Nations forum based on a model created by the Harvard University for high school students. The Monuem-Eresp project, which started last year with one school, have expanded to include three other schools. The programs is developed by Global Attitude Institute and was supported by law firm Pinheiro Neto Advogados, congresswoman Janaína Lima and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
Antibas stressed the importance of the project to promote the exercise of dialogue among students. She explained that the Chamber represents 22 Arab countries of very different regions. “We’ve dealt with that diversity of several types of religions and political views. We have this training and this experience. We understood that dealing with our differences, dialoguing, and accepting one another is key for a peaceful coexistence in the world. This is crucial, and we need skilled professionals to deal with that diversity. And this is a part of what the Global Attitude does,” she said in the closing event.
Fifteen weekly meetings led to the simulation that took place last Friday around the 13th SDG – “Action against the Global Climate Change.” The program includes municipal and state schools and ETECs. In the municipal schools, it is developed by the City Department of Education, the Representation Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in São Paulo (ERESP), and the City Department of Foreign Relations.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
