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HSF Pakistan

Model CCI: Debating Politics

The character and purpose of Model CCI

Model CCI is a nation-wide debating event and a simulation of the Council of Common Interests (CCI). This unique forum is designed to actively engage students from all provinces and administrative units of Pakistan. It intends to foster knowledge on political mechanisms in Pakistan as promulgated by the 18th Constitutional Amendment and to create an awareness of the importance to strengthen inter-provincial and center-provincial dialogue as well as democratic devolution.

From 2015 to 2018, the event was organized by HSF in cooperation with the Senate of Pakistan, the Higher Education Commission, and the Ministry for Interprovincial Coordination at more than 40 public sector universities in Pakistan. HSF and the Senate of Pakistan are planning to relaunch it in spring 2020.

The real CCI and Model CCI

CCI is a constitutional body in the Government of Pakistan that works under the Ministry for Interprovincial Coordination to resolve disputes of power sharing between the federation and provinces. Model CCI simulates this important process of dispute solving.

Model CCI is a debating competition that has been set up to create a big platform for dialogue between students from all over Pakistan. In this simulation, students will discuss certain political issues and current topics. The emphasis of the simulation is on dialogue and dynamic discussions between the students.

Training session

After the selection process is completed, the professional trainers deliver an intensive one-day training workshop in order to prepare the students for the simulation. This training workshop focuses on questions of decentralization in Pakistan, the structure and procedures of CCI and the themes to be discussed in the simulation.

Work in teams

All students are divided into groups and each group consists of teams representing each federating unit for a single topic. The Model CCI participants are asked to meet up with the other students that represent the same government. In teams they analyze the policies, problems and opinion of the government. Smart participants meet up well in advance and develop a strategy for the debate. The students are recommended to get as much information as possible about the topic from the websites of the relevant ministries, news-channels or professional literature beforehand.

How to win

Model CCI is not a debate of dominance and conflict, but a so-called cooperative or coalitional competition. Students don’t win the competition by forcing every member of the council to agree with their own opinion. To really succeed, they have to understand the arguments of the others and deal with them in a reasonable and constructive way and find a mutually beneficial solution.

Successful Model CCI participants show strong academic skills, interpersonal skills and strategic skills, and they pursue joint actions and collective "payoffs."

Structure of the debate

Debates will be compromised of four parts:

  1. Policy statements
  2. Open debate
  3. Consensus building
  4. Joint communique

Benefits and awards

The participants of the university level debate will be given certificates. Generally, the five best students at the university level will be sent to the provincial level and the eight best students at provincial level will be sent to the next level: the national level.

The best two individual winners, i.e. those who win the most points, will be offered to participate in a conference in Europe. The best team, i.e. the team with the collectively highest scored result, will win an exposure trip to Islamabad involving interaction with Senior Members of Government and Bureaucracy.