Annual Program (AVCLP)

Applications for the 2025 Annual Program will open in late August / September.

You can register your interest by emailing our Program Manager via leaders@avclp.org.au

Alpine Valleys Community Leadership (AVCL) plays a crucial role in strengthening community capacity through purposeful programs that are designed to meet the evolving needs of our regional leaders. We work in collaboration with community groups, not for profit organisations and government entities to ensure our efforts are aligned, intentional and impactful.

For more than 20 years, the Alpine Valleys Community Leadership Annual Program (AVCLP) has fostered the development of a vibrant network of over 500 Alumni across Northeast Victoria, our Border regions and beyond. The program has a proud reputation of developing existing and emerging leaders through
a unique experiential “learning by doing” approach. Participants develop personal leadership skills, knowledge of the region and a broad network of professional and community contacts.

The 2024 program will be 14 full days, including a study tour to Melbourne, and two overnight retreats, a launch event and final celebration, in addition to several online skills sessions. The program will be intentional in its place-based approach, and will visit each LGA in our region to learn more about the unique opportunities and challenges. In total, the contact hours equate to around 17 days.

Enquiries can be made to Program Manager, Irene Pritchard via leaders@avclp.org.au or Executive Officer, Madeline Hines via eo@avclp.org.au

It is now more than ever that we need to nurture our emerging leaders. At a local level, community members are collectively looking for enhanced and structured leadership, in the form of practical and strategic thinking, collaboration, direction, planning, wisdom, and local knowledge. Our annual leadership program creates competent and well-equipped leaders who understand what it takes to lead in a regional environment.

Ask yourself, do you:

Care for your community and want to make a difference?

Want to be connected to the people that lead our North East Victorian communities?

Want to meet like-minded people and make rewarding new friendships?

Seek out new and collaborative ways to support and develop our region?

If so, the Alpine Valleys Community Leadership Program is most definitely for you!

AVCLP provides potential and emerging leaders with a unique experiential “learning by doing” program that develops the participant’s personal leadership skills, their knowledge of the region and their network of professional and community contacts.

Each year up to 25 participants who live in the Northeast Victoria and Border regions and who represent a diverse range of ages, professions, backgrounds and leadership experience are recruited for the program through a competitive selection process.

The program is undertaken over seven months, from May through to November, where participants learn through meeting, interacting and working with the region’s finest leaders, participating in leadership mobilisation and activation, and through gaining skills and knowledge to build capacity as a community leader.

Participants engage regularly to work with outstanding community leaders, whilst visiting a range of places of significance within the area. Due to the ever-changing needs and requirements of our community and cohort, as of 2020 we were able to diversify our modes of delivery, introducing a blend of in-person program days, along with online content and sessions. The course also includes several retreats, where the personal leadership skills of the participants are developed and a number of study tours, where participants are able to meet State and Federal leaders.

There is a variety of different scholarships available that applicants may be eligible for. The eligibility criteria for each scholarship varies dependent on industry, community work, geographic location and a range of other factors. We assess applicants for scholarships once you have submitted an application and attended an interview. We encourage applications from people of all abilities and from our extensive multicultural and indigenous communities, ranges of ethnic and religious communities.

The Alpine Valleys Community Leadership Program covers Northeast Victoria and the New South Wales border regions, comprising the Local Government Areas of Alpine Shire, Albury City, Benalla Rural City, Indigo Shire, Mansfield Shire, Moira Shire, Rural City of Wangaratta, Towong Shire and the City of Wodonga.