About the National Regional Challenges
Six national challenges for regional, rural and remote Australia, run by Ready Communities. Taking part is free.
What are the National Regional Challenges?
The National Regional Challenges bring regional, rural and remote changemakers together to learn from each other and generate local action.
There are six focus areas. Each one came from the Ready Communities Flagship Program in Stanthorpe, Queensland. Each focus area has a challenge, asked as a question. Each challenge has one action that any town can take part in, from November 2026 to April 2027.
For example, the Community Contribution focus area asks: how does your community keep its volunteer heart strong? Its action is to map and publish your town's volunteering opportunities.
Why we run them
Regional towns face many of the same problems: drought, housing, volunteers, local spending, connecting generations and telling a shared story. Most towns are already working on them. What works in one town rarely reaches the next.
Regions already have what they need. It just needs to be put together differently. The Challenges collect what towns are doing, publish it on this site for any town to use, and connect the people doing the work through monthly webinars.
Ready Communities backs local people to lead change in their own community, so the momentum lasts beyond the next grant. The Challenges are the easiest way for any town to start.
How the National Regional Challenges work
The six focus areas came from the Ready Communities Flagship Program in Stanthorpe, Queensland, our host community. Each round gathers local stories of what already works, sets one national action for each focus area at Social Impact in the Regions, and supports towns to act on it locally.
- 01
Inform
May to July 2026. Regions shared local stories of what already works.
Done - 02
Commit
September 2026. Impact Labs at SIITR26 chose one national action for each focus area.
Done - 03
Act
November 2026 to April 2027. Towns and organisations take part in the actions.
We are here - 04
Report
May 2027. Impact Report and a celebration of what towns did. New challenges are set at SIITR27 in September 2027.
Coming
Focus areas and challenges 26/27
- SustainabilityHow does your community come together when water runs low?
- Community ContributionHow does your community keep its volunteer heart strong?
- Local EconomyHow does your region keep its money working locally?
- Cultural PracticesHow does your community tell a story that belongs to everyone?
- LiveabilityHow does your region solve its own housing problem?
- Intergenerational ConnectionHow do your generations learn from each other to build something stronger?
How to take part
1. Choose a focus area
Each focus area page explains the challenge, the action and the key dates.
2. Share what works
Share one story, table, action or town list in one short form. It takes about five minutes.
3. We check it and publish it
Your confirmation email has the next webinar and a link to check your entry. When it is published, we email you a link to it and social media tiles.
4. Share it locally
Share it at a meeting, an event, in a newsletter or online, with monthly webinars along the way.
5. Share more by 9 April
Did more happen? Send the form again by 9 April 2027. Results go into the May 2027 Impact Report.
Who can take part
Anyone creating or investing in change in regional Australia: residents, councils, community groups, businesses, schools and other organisations. If you live, work or invest in the regions and want to make change with others, this is the place for you.
Choose a focus areaSocial Impact in the Regions
The 2026–27 national actions were set at the Impact Labs of Social Impact in the Regions 2026 (SIITR26). Results are shared at the next conference, SIITR27, in September 2027.
Visit the Social Impact in the Regions website