Peak Potential creates pathways for youth development and community building by bridging resource gaps. We are a youth-led organisation founded in 2024 from Hong Kong, working in partnership with the Institute for Rural Development in Nepal.
200+youth using our court daily5+villages servedFirst Sport Courtbuilt in Simara, Nepal8countries in our 2026 programme
Simara, Panchakanya Rural Municipality, Nuwakot District
A permanent facility, completed June 2025
Peak Potential funded, designed and delivered a multi-sport court in Simara, Nuwakot. Construction began on 18 May 2025 and was completed in under a week. On the evening construction finished, local children began playing volleyball on the new court.
The facility now serves over 200 young people daily across more than five surrounding villages. It has become a gathering place for youth from all backgrounds, fostering inclusion and community pride.
A court filled with dreams. A hub owned by the community.Simara, Panchakanya Rural Municipality, Nuwakot District · May 2025
How it was built
We did not arrive with a design. We arrived with a question, and the answer came from the people who would use the space: a flat, fenced, all-weather court at the edge of the village, close enough that a child could walk to it after school and a parent could see it from the path.
From coordinating across borders to overcoming logistical hurdles in a remote village, the challenges we faced were numerous. With weekly video calls with the Institute for Rural Development, we finally decided on a suitable land and finalized logistics, leases, and material lists. From budgeting to addressing cultural considerations, we were actively involved in every decision.
The collaboration during the construction was inspiring. Our IRD partners transported a 90kg welding machine across rough terrain and worked under the scorching sun to transform maize fields into a sports court. Local children eagerly participated, helping with construction tasks and taking ownership of the project, demonstrating the power of teamwork both on and off the court.
On the very evening construction was completed, local children began playing volleyball on the new court. The facility has become a gathering place for youth from all backgrounds, fostering inclusion and community pride. The local ward chairperson has since formed a youth club to manage the space and organize tournaments. The success of our project has reaffirmed Peak Potential’s belief that every child, regardless of where they live, deserves the chance to play, grow, and lead.
“The completion of this facility is a testament to what can be achieved when local communities and international partners work hand-in-hand. Together, we have created a safe and inclusive space for sports and recreation, opening new opportunities for youth leadership, teamwork, and healthy living in our village.”
Asmod Khakurel Head of the Institute for Rural Development Nuwakot, June 2025
Our journey, in film
Submitted to the PLURAL+ United Nations Youth Video Festival. Filmed in Hong Kong and Nuwakot, with interviews recorded by our partners at IRD.
Youth in rural Nepal need access to recreational opportunities and sports equipment to support physical development and foster teamwork. In remote mountain villages that access is severely limited. Equipment cannot reach these areas, and there is no safe, level ground on which to play.
Without access to sport, young people face barriers in physical development and lose the opportunity to build essential skills such as teamwork and leadership.
273 million
children and young people are out of school worldwide, the seventh consecutive annual rise
UNESCO, Global Education Monitoring Report 2026
1 in 6
school-age children globally is excluded from education
UNESCO GEM 2026
81%
of adolescents aged 11 to 17 do not meet the minimum recommendation of one hour of daily physical activity
WHO / The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
85%
of adolescent girls fall short. In 27 countries, more than nine in ten do.
WHO / The Lancet
The barrier is not interest or ability. It is infrastructure.
Origin
In November 2024, four students from Chinese International School travelled to Nepal on a school trekking expedition. In the village of Ghandruk we played volleyball with local teenagers on jagged slopes, using a ball that was worn through. They had the interest and the ability. They had neither proper equipment nor space to play a safe game.
Peak Potential was founded on our return and presented at the UNITAR Youth Ambassador Programme in November 2024, under SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.
We contacted more than fifteen organisations across Nepal before partnering with Reinstalling Hope and the Institute for Rural Development. In February 2025 we pitched at the GBA Youth Innovation Summit and raised HKD 12,000 in a single evening. That funding expanded our scope from collecting equipment to constructing a permanent facility.
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The record, in photographs
Hover to pause
How we work
Three commitments govern every project we run. Hover a card to see what it produces.
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What it produces
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Evidence
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Each project trains the partners and the young people who make the next one possible.
Built on the Global Goals
Six of the seventeen, and only the six we can evidence. Where we cannot name a target and a measure, we do not make the claim. Hover any lit goal to read what we can show for it.
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February to June 2026 · Co-hosted with IRD and the Oxford Diplomatic Society
Building the next generation of global leaders
The Meridian Scholars Programme is a ten-week international leadership initiative connecting students aged 12 to 16 across eight countries to co-create solutions to global inequality through the lens of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
60+students in Cohort 18countries represented10weeks, February to June~40hours of mentored work per team
Our mentors come from
Oxford Diplomatic SocietyDartmouth CollegeBrown UniversityTsinghua UniversityKenyon CollegeUniversity of Minnesota
Six institutions across three continents, mentoring teams that span five time zones.
What the programme builds
Cross-cultural communication
Diplomatic leadership
Problem definition and stakeholder analysis
Solution design
Feasibility, budgeting and impact planning
Ethical reasoning in development practice
Our mission is to transform global awareness into meaningful action by empowering young people to build cross-cultural understanding, develop diplomatic leadership skills, and collaborate on tangible projects that address real-world challenges facing rural communities.
Students work in international teams with a dedicated mentor, guided by community insight from IRD and academic frameworks from the Oxford Diplomatic Society. Proposals are assessed against a formal rubric, and selected teams receive programme-backed funding and continued implementation support.
Who our scholars become
Meridian scholars leave with a completed, mentor-guided proposal grounded in real community needs, and in several cases with the funding and partnership to deliver it. They join an international alumni network and remain connected to Peak Potential, IRD and ODS as the programme expands to further regions and institutions.
Meridian Scholars · Cohort 1 · 2026
Four communities, changed by students who don't live in them
These four projects emerged from our first Meridian cohort. Each team spent ten weeks defining a problem, consulting the people living inside it, and designing something that could outlast their own involvement.
Teams were assembled across time zones rather than friendship groups — a student in Kathmandu working with one in Madrid and one in Shanghai.
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Meridian is a global movement of students building for communities beyond their own.
What they practise is the habit of acting as global citizens rather than local ones: naming an injustice precisely, consulting the people who live inside it, and designing something that outlasts their own involvement.
Vision
Peak Potential exists to make opportunity independent of geography. We build permanent infrastructure where access is missing, and we build the leaders who will do the same in their own communities.
One facility, serving over 200 young people daily, with a funded endowment and a community youth club that runs it. An international programme across eight countries, training young people to design and deliver projects of their own.
Every child, regardless of where they live, deserves the chance to play, grow, and lead.
About Peak Potential
Peak Potential was founded in 2024 by students at Chinese International School, Hong Kong, following a school trekking expedition to Nepal. We bridge global inequalities through youth-driven, cross-border collaboration.
Team
Monique SiuFounder and Executive DirectorFiona WongOutreach and Fundraising
How we operate
Every project is designed with the community that will use it, and handed to the young people who run it.
James YanMedia and CommunicationsNathan ChowLogistics and ResearchEmma HuProgramme Director
Partners
Institute for Rural Development (IRD), Nepal
Ground partner since 2025. A grassroots organisation with established relationships with local schools, teachers, families and community leaders across Nepal's mountain and rural regions, enabling development initiatives that are culturally grounded and community-led. Led by Asmod Khakurel, with co-founder Laxman Bista.
Oxford Diplomatic Society (ODS), United Kingdom
One of the University of Oxford's oldest student-led organisations. ODS members lead the Meridian academic curriculum, mentor project teams and support evaluation.
Greater Bay Area Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Foundation
Hosted the February 2025 fundraiser that financed construction.
Press and recognition
Our work has been covered in the Nepali and Hong Kong press, both pieces written by the team.
Institute for Rural Development, NepalGround partner since 2025. A grassroots organisation with established relationships with local schools, teachers, families and community leaders across Nepal's mountain and rural regions. Led by Asmod Khakurel, with co-founder Laxman Bista.
Oxford Diplomatic Society, United KingdomOne of the University of Oxford's oldest student-led organisations. ODS members lead the Meridian academic curriculum, mentor project teams and support evaluation.
UNITAR Youth Ambassador Programme 2024Peak Potential was presented at the UN Institute for Training and Research youth programme under SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities.
GBA Youth Innovation Summit, February 2025Hosted by the Greater Bay Area Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Foundation, where our pitch raised HKD 12,000 in a single evening and financed construction.
Chinese International School, Hong KongFounding institution. Peak Potential was started by five of its students in 2024.
Nuwakot Response
Nuwakot is the district in which our facility stands.
On 26 August 2026, flash floods along the Trishuli River caused severe damage across Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha and Chitwan. IRD is responding on the ground. Peak Potential is raising funds directly in support of that response.
