General Information

It’s time again: The third Model African Union Bayreuth Conference (BAYMAU18) from 18-22 May opens its doors at the University of Bayreuth and will host around 70 delegates from all over the world. The motto of this year’s BAYMAU18 Conference is „Empowerment. The Potential of an Empowering Africa in a globalized world“ and will lead among other things to versatile discussions around the empowerment of marginalized, vulnerable social groups in Africa. The heading “Empowerment” though should be understood as something that also comes from within these different groups and not as something that is given from an outside group. In this context, we would also like to stress the focus on self-empowerment.

Next to the simulation of the African Union, with its sessions in 5 different committees, there will be rich framework program with cultural activities and different workshops, which means speeches and lectures as well as for example singing and dance workshops.
The main goal of the conference is, to bring people from various countries, with different social backgrounds together and enter them into dialogue. In this way, every participant can broaden one ‘s horizon about Africa and is trained to have fruitful discussions, which lead to solutions with a good balance between different perspectives. At the end of the conference, these solutions will be recorded in a political position paper, that we will send to the official African Union.

In organizing the conference we get support from the University of Bayreuth, the postgraduate program „Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) “and various other sponsors and partners like „VisaWie?“. This year we take a special effort, to gain a wide range of interesting guest speakers.

We can happily confirm, that His Excellency Mehreteab Mulugeta, General Consul of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, His Excellency, Monyemangene George, General Consul of the Republic of South Africa and Dr. Helmut Schmidt, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Mali will attend our conference. Other invitations to prominent Africans like Mo Ibrahim, who lent his name to the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance, are still pending.
Could we raise your interest? Then apply here.