Anyone who wants to build resilience and leadership skills in rural, regional, and remote communities. You’ll have a desire to help your own or other rural Australian communities prepare for drought and natural disasters. You’ll also want to overcome general challenges, either because you live in these communities or because your work relates to them or the agribusiness sector. You might have lived experience with drought, too, or have the desire to develop your leadership capabilities.

The Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund covers this program. As a participant, you will only need to fund your own travel and meals. You’ll receive an allowance of up to $500 to cover up to 50% of your travel, meals and additional accommodation costs.

Your safety is so important to us, and we hope you don’t become unwell or injured! We’re well-prepared for the program and have first aid officers available to assist in an emergency. Should you, unfortunately, contract COVID, we have response plans in place to get you home as quickly as we can.

The location and schedule of the program will likely make it difficult for you to work on the program. We also don’t want you to reduce your ability to focus and get the most out of it. We ask that you make prior arrangements with your workplace and inform them that you will not be able to work during the program period.

We had a team of experts from the consortia and delivery partners analyse data for 61 regions. Using that data and its insights, we selected the regions where we could make the biggest impact.

The ARLF places a large emphasis on experiential learning. It’s not just about you fully immersing yourself in the learning experience, although that is great. It’s about creating more time for networking and building social connections through our evening activities.

You must attend all sessions in order to graduate from the program. The program is designed to build your awareness and experience throughout each session. Experiential learning is one of the most engaging and deep methods of learning. Wrapping up your learnings and reflection is crucial for a positive learning experience.

We can’t stress enough how important your commitment to the program is. Of course, we will do our best to make sure you don’t miss out should unforeseen circumstances stop you from attending. Please reach out if you’d like to discuss concerns with our team.

For more information, view our Participant Attendance Policy.

Places in the program are awarded based on the information provided in your application.

Aside from standard questions about yourself, we will be asking you to list any community and/ or volunteer positions that you currently hold or have held in the past. You will also need to explain what you have learned from the position.

An example may be: 

Tuckshop Assistant, Gumtree School, for two years, I have learnt to ensure high-quality food standards and how to work with different personalities and think on my feet.

We will also be asking if you have completed any other leadership programs or qualifications.

Lastly, we will want to know what impact you want to have on rural, regional and remote Australia as a result of your participation in this program.

A selection panel will assess each application based on the following selection criteria:

1. Committed to initiating and leading significant change in their sector, community and/or region.
2. Open to new ideas and demonstrate a willingness to learn, grow, adapt and change.
3. Willing to complete an intensive leadership development program with a focus on experiential learning.
4. Able to demonstrate previous experience and/or future capability in leadership.
5. Ready to work collaboratively in their region on initiatives and plans for the future benefit of the region.