Dear Delegates,

It is my honor to welcome you to ILMUNC 2011 and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). My name is Catherine Gao, and I will be serving as your Chair for the duration of the conference. Your Vice-Chair will be Ashley Bernard, a dedicated member of the Penn International Affairs Association. Needless to say, we are very excited to be preparing for this committee and hope you are as well.

For a little background, I am a senior in Wharton, concentrating in Operations Information Management and Marketing, with a minor in East Asian Studies. I have been involved in Model UN since my sophomore year of high school and am very passionate about international affairs and development. Here at Penn, I have served as the 2009 Director-General for UPMUNC. In addition to MUN, I am involved in a rural education nonprofit called Givology (www.givology.org).

This year, we have two interesting topics to debate: 1) Disaster Relief and Response 2) Women¡¯s Empowerment & Gender Equality. These two topics are very different but equally important, and I look forward to the lively debate during conference.

The purpose of Model UN is for all to understand the problems facing the world today and what countries can do to work toward collaborative solutions. I look forward to lively debate and innovative resolutions. I encourage all delegates to conduct thorough research regarding the proposed topics and to come prepared to share your ideas and suggestions with the rest of your committee.

If you have any questions, please don¡¯t hesitate to contact me. See you in February!

Sincerely,

Catherine Gao

Chair, Commission on Sustainable Development

Ivy League Model United Nations Conference XXVII