Chair Introduction: Dhruv Mandal

Hello delegates, my name is Dhruv Mandal, and I am so honored to be your head chair this year for the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) at BMUN LXIX!

While I hope to learn a lot about you all at conference this February, I want all of you to learn a little bit about me. I am a senior at UC Berkeley double-majoring in Molecular/Cell Biology and Political Science. Before my time at Cal, I grew up in New Jersey and participated in both Model UN and Youth & Government in high school. The opportunity to chair West Coast MUN after doing East Coast MUN all my life gives me a greater appreciation of the delegate experience; thank you all so much for your interest in PBC! I also serve as BMUN's Under-Secretary-General of Outreach and Education, which means I have a very involved role in planning Delegate Workshop and planning/creating our MUN curriculum.

Outside of BMUN, I am a member of The Berkeley Forum, which organizes talks, debates, and panels on the Berkeley campus. In my spare time, I like creating Spotify playlists (currently, I have Aaron May, H.E.R., Queen, and The Black Keys on the queue) and reading fiction. My favorite authors are Vonnegut and Faulkner.

Welcome to BMUN LXIX’s PBC committee! While the Security Council is aimed towards taking punitive and direct action against countries in crisis, the PBC serves as an advisory board to the Security Council and advocates for a more holistic approach to negotiate the end of conflict, which makes it so special. By properly taking into account the interests of the parties involved in a present conflict, the PBC advocates for more lasting compromise and mutualistic understanding between nations in dispute. We'll talk more about the committee and its topics in the run-up to conference.

You should also view this blog as a resource. It's a chance to put faces to names and get to know the dais of this committee, as well as receive additional resources for conference research preparation. This is also an opportunity to engage with articles and sources that we share in order to better understand the committee vibe.

and I can't wait to meet all of you in person! If you have any questions at all, send an email to pbcbmunlxix@bmun.org !  See you all very soon!