UN needs more young Chinese on board, but how?

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‍The annual civil servant examination attracts millions of Chinese college graduates every year. In comparison, few people have thought about becoming an international civil servant working for agencies like the United Nations (UN).

China is now the third largest contributor to UN membership fees and the second largest contributor to UN Peacekeeping missions. But the number of Chinese staff working at the UN agencies is less than half of the quota assigned by the UN.

China underrepresented

The UN Secretariat has more than 44,000 staff from its member states, among whom 476 are Chinese. The situation is similar at the UN Development Program (UNDP). It has only 40 Chinese staff working for the agency worldwide, UNDP China Office told CGTN.

This status quo does not reflect the country's contribution to the UN, according to Eva Jansen with the UN Outreach Program on Human Resources. The program tours Chinese universities every year to call for more local talent.

The number of Chinese staff at the UN Secretariat accounts for merely 1 percent of the total. /Photo via Xinhua

Since 2013, China has been invited to join the Young Professionals Program (YPP), a recruitment initiative for those who want to start a career as an international civil servant with the UN Secretariat.

"By holding such promotional events, we want to attract more Chinese youth to join various UN projects," said Jansen.

"Young people are passionate to work for international organizations like the UN. UNDP receives a great number of job applications from young people," UNDP China Office said, "UNDP will participate in the information sessions hosted by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in universities, and offer various internship programs."

Massive projections on Sustainable Development Goals are seen on the north facade of the Secretariat building, and west facade of the General Assembly building at the United Nations headquarters in New York, US, September 22, 2015. /Xinhua Photo

Star power

When it comes to publicity, celebrities are the better choice. Some young Chinese stars have recently caught greater attention from the UN and its affiliated agencies.

In late October, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), invited three young Chinese celebrities to join a conference themed at eliminating discrimination against HIV/AIDS.

It caused a buzz on social media in China. The three of them, namely Yi Yangqianxi, Guan Xiaotong, and Wang Jia, have a total of 53 million followers on Weibo, a Twitter-like service in the country. The videos of their speeches were played hundreds of millions of times online.

Photo via WHO's Weibo

Yi, 16, is a member of the popular boyband TFBoys and a singer, while Guan and Wang both are actors. The trio are also smoking-control ambassadors in China selected by the WHO.

Then earlier this year, Wang Yuan, also 16 and member of TFBoys, was chosen to represent China at a youth forum held by the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The forum was themed on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, promoting 17 goals set by the UN in transforming the world.

A screenshot of Wang Yuan's Weibo

Wang posted a photo of the invitation by the UN on his Weibo on January 24. The post eventually garnered 10.76 million retweets, 563,799 likes and 77,220 comments.

"At least his fans are more willing to know what are Sustainable Development Goals now," a UN staff told Southern Metropolis Daily.