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The Model OAS General
Assembly
(MOAS) for universities began 19
years ago, and a Model General Assembly for high schools quickly followed. The MOAS is a
credited academic course through which students develop international public policies on
issues affecting the Americas and apply theory learned in the classroom. They learn
parliamentary procedures for debate, caucusing, how to function in working groups of
countries that share common interests, and the operation of the committees that report to
the General Assembly. They also learn how the OAS operates and the key economic, social,
educational, political, and security issues facing the Americas.
- The central purpose of the MOAS is to strengthen and accelerate the diffusion of
knowledge about the OAS and its functions among the general public. It has drawn student
participation from a wide array of North American universities. It has grown from a purely
U.S.-based event to a hemispheric convocation involving more than 200 high school and
university participants.
- The MOAS is working to change attitudes among citizens of North, Central, South
America, and the Caribbean by providing a program in which cultural sensibility and
curriculum enhancement are realized. By representing member states of the OAS, students in
each delegation gain a broader and clearer understanding of the capabilities and
constraints that shape the foreign policy of each member state. Students perceive patterns
of conflict and cooperation that characterize inter-American diplomacy in the search for
solutions to international issues.
The Model Assembly is a crash course
in international policy making, and a lot more. Students develop skills that can only be
acquired outside the classroom: diplomacy on an international level, reaching consensus on
complex international issues, and understanding the important role of these issues in the
future of the Americas.
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