Indian actor, content creator and activist Prajakta Koli has reached another global milestone after becoming the first Indian appointed to the High-Level Panel of Judges for the 2026 Heroes of Tomorrow: UN SDG Action Awards.
Prakakta Koli is also the only Indian on this year’s judging panel, which will evaluate more than 5,000 entries from 190 countries. The global awards programme is powered by the UN SDG Action Campaign and hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Prakakta Koli will serve alongside several international leaders, including UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J.Mohammed, UNDP Administrator and former Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs Felipe Paullier, Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar, and Cannes Best Actress winner Merve Dizdar.
From Entertainment to Global Advocacy
Prakakta Koli built a career that goes beyond entertainment. She is widely known for Netflix’s Indian romantic-comedy series Mismatched and recently appeared in the streaming platform’s war drama Operation Safed Sagar.
She was also included in the first TIME100 Creators list and is currently UNDP India’s Youth Climate Champion. Through this role, Prakakta has represented young people at major international platforms, including COP28, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week NYC.
Speaking about her latest role, Prakakta said she always believed in the power of storytelling, creativity, and young people taking charge.
9 Finalist to Head to Rome
Now in it’s 9th year, the UN SDG Action Awards recognises people and initiatives that makes an impact through three categories, Changemaker, Creativity and Resilience. A total of 9 global finalist will travel to Rome, Italy, where they will take part in a high-level coaching and capacity-building programme before the awards ceremony on 29th October 2026.
The ceremony will broadcast through UN WebTV and Italy’s national broadcaster RAI. The awards are produced in partnerships with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and International Cooperation (MAECI) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
For Prakakta Koli, this role adds another international role to a journey that has taken her from creating digital content and acting to representing young voices in one of the world’s biggest platform.
Sources: Storyboard18, Bollywod Hungama
