It’s been over 10 years of work in youth engagement, I still hope that one day I’ll be good enough to work for @UNFPA after countless voluntary engagements with them at different levels, locally, regionally and globally cc: @Atayeshe @UNFPA_ESARO @UNFPA_Zimbabwe

The question is #AmIGoodEnough for a paid role, to have my expertise fairly valued... or will I be kept on the sidelines because my experiences still don’t count when it’s time to recruit?

I urge @UNFPA to revise its recruitment policies, to better reflect its commitment to youth engagement and to honour the possibly millions of work-hours put in by youth volunteers to support their work. Remove barriers to hiring young people, open the doors to youth

Addressing youth unemployment globally, should start with an internal commitment to bringing youth expertise in, in paid roles. It sometimes will mean waiving qualification requirements if a candidate has adequate or exceptional experience in a field #AmIGoodEnough for @UNFPA

So I ask these amazing leaders: @Atayeshe @JulittaOnabanjo will you use your power to make this kind of change? Can young professionals count on you to alter the system in their favour? cc: @auyouthenvoy_ @UNYouthEnvoy @UN4Youth @jayathmadw @UNFPA

For many years I survived on DSA, while giving expert-level input for the crafting and running of digital campaigns, regional conferences, global summits, reports and strategies under @UNFPA I did the work but never got fair value back, not even enough to take me through varsity

I hoped that the agency I supported, would recognise the value of my work, and at least formally contract me so that I could live a decent life in return. Many young professionals have experienced the same, working with a 'pro-youth' agency. This counts as exploitation @UNFPA

What if you decided to change the system? What if you introduced an internal youth policy that changes the way in which country offices engage with youth? What if you created a new system for young professionals in low income countries to take up positions of power in the agency?