New Delhi, January 27, 2023: Popular online content creator Prajakta Koli who joined UNDP as India's first Youth Climate Champion last year has completed one year of engagement with the United Nations' lead agency on international development.
Prajakta, with over 7 million followers on Instagram and 6.8 million on YouTube - was appointed UNDP India's first Youth Climate Champion last year. She has since been the face of many campaigns to highlight the impact of climate change and engage people, especially young people, to act now.
Together with UNDP India, Prajakta lent her voice to raise awareness about climate action through a YouTube vlog – "Climate Change is Real." To bring stories of real-life heroes leading change in communities, Koli visited UNDP supported plastic waste management project in Chembur, Mumbai, and women-led mangrove tourism in Sindhudurg.
Through UNDP Youth Co:Lab, Prajakta encouraged young social entrepreneurs to effectively utilize their skills to solve some of the country's pressing issues. Likewise, her engagement with other UN Ambassadors through live chats and participation in the 16 Days of Activism campaign stirred meaningful conversations about climate action and violence against women.
"The world today is facing multiple crises. With the largest youth population in the world, India's response to these issues has been innovative and skilfully diverse. UNDP's initiatives on climate action enabled me to propel the youth of this country to take constructive, actionable steps to save our rapidly changing environment. My collaboration with UNDP not only helped me build critical perspectives on several issues but also created awareness about the same. I am excited to engage in new, exciting projects with UNDP India to garner more support for the SDGs this year," said Prajakta Koli.
Prajakta supported UNDP's global campaign, Dear World Leaders, through a powerful video message broadcast widely at the climate conference - COP27 in Egypt last year. She also lent her voice to UNDP's award-winning 'Don't Choose Extinction' campaign to urge humanity to accelerate Climate Action.
Dennis Curry, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP India, said, "Over the last year, Prajakta has been advocating for urgent climate action and using her voice to influence young people to act now. She demonstrates that in young people's leadership lies hope for humanity. Climate change is the defining issue of our lives, and young people are the solution-bearers and the changemakers for a better tomorrow. We look forward to continuing our engagement with her for people and the planet."
Prajakta has been giving voice to many social issues over the last 6-7 years. On World Mental Health Day in 2016, Koli launched her campaign #iPledgeToBeMe which addresses mental health, well-being and body shaming. She shared her experiences of body shaming and wrote a rap song, "Shameless", in May 2017. The video features Raftaar, RJ Malishka and Mithila Palkar.
In 2018, she participated in the #GirlsCount campaign for One.Org which dealt with the importance of girl's education.
In September 2019, she traveled to the UN Headquarters in New York as a delegate to participate in the International Day of Tolerance and for the Goalkeepers program – an initiative by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Prajakta represented India at The Call To Unite event which started on 1 May 2020 and featured Oprah Winfrey, Julia Roberts, Eva Longoria, Deepak Chopra, Alanis Morissette, Quincy Jones and Mandy Moore among others.
In January 2022, she was appointed Youth Climate Champion by UNDP India.
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