The IFRC will launch the third edition of the IFRC Limitless Youth Innovation Leadership Academy – Peace Edition with a high-level global event in Rome, Italy, on 12 February, from 11:00am to 12:00pm (CET).

Hosted at the Italian Red Cross headquarters and broadcast live worldwide through the IFRC Solferino Academy channels, the launch signals a decisive step in placing youth leadership, peace and locally driven innovation at the core of humanitarian action.

Limitless is the IFRC’s global platform to identify, equip and trust young leaders to address complex challenges in their communities. Led by the IFRC Solferino Academy, the programme supports youth and volunteers across the Red Cross and Red Crescent network to move beyond ideas—strengthening leadership, testing solutions in real contexts, and driving change within National Societies and communities.

By combining leadership development, innovation training, mentorship, peer learning and flexible seed funding, Limitless goes beyond traditional grant-making. It creates the conditions for young people to take responsibility, make decisions and deliver collective impact. Through a phased global academy model, Limitless supports participants from early idea development through testing, strengthening and scaling solutions rooted in local realities.

“Long lasting peace will not be built without young people—and it will not be sustained if they are treated as beneficiaries rather than leaders. Limitless is a clear commitment by the IFRC to shift power, trust young people with responsibility, and back their leadership with real resources, real influence and real opportunities to shape the future of their communities and our network.”

Xavier Castellanos, IFRC Under Secretary General

The Peace Edition responds to escalating pressures on social cohesion, including polarization, exclusion and economic insecurity. Peace is understood not simply as the absence of violence, but as an active process grounded in inclusion, dialogue, dignity and trust. Limitless Peace reflects the IFRC’s commitment to meaningful youth leadership in peacebuilding, aligned with global frameworks such as the IFRC Strategy 2030, UN Youth, Peace and Security and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The programme also recognises that climate impacts, environmental stress and economic shocks often act as threat multipliers—deepening inequalities and increasing the risk of social tension—making youth-led, community-based solutions critical to sustaining peace. Young people are uniquely positioned to act as credible leaders and connectors, fostering dialogue and designing locally rooted solutions that strengthen trust from the ground up.

Previous global editions of Limitless—focused on COVID-19 response and climate and environment—have trained 10,000 thousand young people, supported thousands of youth-led initiatives and reached communities in more than 150 countries. These results demonstrate the impact that becomes possible when young people are trusted as leaders and supported through a global innovation ecosystem.

Building on this foundation, Limitless Peace aims to train up to 10,000 additional young people and support 1,000 youth-led peacebuilding initiatives worldwide, strengthening a global ecosystem of youth leadership and innovation for peace.

The Rome launch will include a roundtable where experts will discuss how organisations can support young people to drive social change, as well as present the programme’s design and strategic priorities, with contributions from IFRC leadership, partners and youth innovators, and will invite National Societies, communities and partners to engage in this next phase of Limitless.

Limitless is delivered with the generous support of a diverse group of partners committed to youth leadership, innovation and peace, including the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development (DIHAD), the European Union, the Youth Empowerment Fund, Rivet, the Italian Red Cross, Northumbria University, and Monash University.

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