Step Into the Room Where Food and War Meet

Eighty seats. One morning. One deal that could feed millions - or fail.

Third Intergenerational Model United Nations | Saturday 0800-1330 23 January 2027 | Breakfast & Lunch provided

Opening Remarks From Mark Udall, Former US Senator

Academy Mapleton Hill, Grand Hall

Three years after the Black Sea Grain Initiative collapsed, the shipments have not come back the way they were. Grain must move - to the extent that it does - through one of the most dangerous stretches of water on earth - past drones, mines, blockades, and a war that has not stopped. Harvests risk rotting while families in the Horn of Africa and beyond go without bread. On the morning of Saturday January 23rd 2027, you can be one of the people asked to fix that.

IMUN3 turns the Grand Hall of Academy Mapleton Hill into the Black Sea Region. You will represent a country or a great institution - Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, China, the World Food Programme, the United Nations itself, and others - and you will negotiate, in real time and under real pressure, a new framework to move food through a conflict zone.

Why this is unlike any Model UN you have done

The hall is the map. A giant floor map of the Black Sea sits at the centre of the Grand Hall of the Academy Mapleton Hill. Where you sit is your position. When you cross the floor to talk to another delegation, the whole Hall sees your diplomacy happen.
Shuttle diplomacy, not speeches. You will fly between "cities" - New York, Geneva, Moscow, Beijing, London, Kyiv, Istanbul, Riyadh - carrying offers, gathering intelligence and reporting back to your group. Russia and Ukraine may not sit at the same table until the very end.
Several generations in one room. High-school students negotiate side by side with university students and senior citizens - some of whom may remember Cold War grain embargoes and the collapse of the Soviet Union first-hand. That living memory becomes part of the simulation.
A live newsroom. A press desk runs breaking-news briefings. A careless word in a private caucus can become a headline that moves the whole negotiation.

What are the issues you will face?

The 2022 grain deal worked because Ukraine and Russia each needed something the other alone could give; that's no longer true since Ukraine can export independently, so a new deal has to be earned rather than assumed - across four questions (corridor value, face/money for Russia, Global South leverage, and enforceable trust mechanics). The technical fixes below are the same ones that made the original deal work and the same ones that eventually broke it.

Inspections regime - previously Turkey-led; caused chronic delays
De-mining missions - needed to reopen safe shipping lanes
Balanced quotas - grain and fertilizer allocated to match Global South demand
War-risk insurance - needs to be non-prohibitive to attract shippers back to the Black Sea
Certificates of origin - Ukraine's red line on excluding grain from occupied territories
Price-shock/famine risk - countries priced out by ongoing supply disruption

The crises are coming - you will not know when

Through the morning, the crisis team injects real shocks into the room. Any of these could land while you are mid-negotiation:

A drone strike hits a grain port overnight - three vessels damaged.
A ship carrying grain of disputed origin is intercepted; two governments claim it.
The insurance market collapses, and shipping premiums spike overnight.
A UN member state announces it will hit famine-emergency status within ninety days.

What you will walk away with

By lunchtime you will have argued, bargained, built a coalition, managed a crisis, and either produced a signed Black Sea Grain Framework 2027 - or watched it fail on live "television." Either way, you will gain new understanding of food security, maritime trade, sanctions and negotiation, and both potential and actual United Nations roles the way people do in real foreign ministries and missions in countries and international institutions: from the inside, under a clock.

Who can attend

Attendance is open to participating delegations and observers. We are open and encourage high-school delegates, university students, UNA community members, and Seniors to register. Prior Model UN experience is required for high schoolers. For others, you will need a willingness to think through your position and speak for a country that is not your own. Every delegate receives a country or institution assignment with a self-contained general and group background paper sufficient for IMUN 3 participation. Observers are welcome.

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The Third Inter-Generational Model United Nations

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