Reconciliation Action Plans are about taking good intent and turning it into action.
The Black Lives Matter protests which have erupted across the globe have caused loads of Australians to rethink the issues affecting Indigenous communities.
The health, wealth and employment gaps between Indigenous Australians and the remainder of the inhabitants are well known, however the protests created new urgency to do something about them.
In July, the Australian government unveiled new Shut the Hole targets together with reducing Indigenous incarceration rates.
For organisations that feel the urgency act there may be one obvious solution – a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
In 2006, Reconciliation Australia launched RAPs as a way for organisations to include strategic reconciliation initiatives as part of their business plans. The goal of a RAP is to create meaningful opportunities on your organisation to actively assist and recognise Indigenous Australians. Like many initiatives, reconciliation is a process that can evolve as you and your organisation start to take action.
RAPs are broken down into 4 maturity levels that replicate where organisations are in their reconciliation journey. They are: Mirror, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate. Each has a corresponding RAP type organisations can pursue. For example, the Innovate degree is for organisations that already understand where they will improve on Indigenous issues and have begun taking action to actively address them.
Step one for all organisations is to determine its maturity level. “Contact the RAP team at Reconciliation Australia and discover out which degree you will start at,” says Anthony. “The RAP team will ship you a template that will outline what it’s essential to do. There are some fundamental obligatory actions required by Reconciliation Australia corresponding to celebrating nationwide Reconciliation Day and growing knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. After that, it’s about the modifications you may make.”
Because a lot of organisations will start at the Replicate stage, this guide will outline the pillars you might want to establish to start your reconciliation journey.
Research
This is the place it all begins.
It can assist to look into why RAPs are so essential as well as the current points facing Indigenous people. Reports equivalent to Close the Gap can provide context to your RAP and may allow you to with the following step.
Secure help
Part of a profitable RAP is establishing support for reconciliation initiatives across the entire organisation. In most cases this must start on the top.
“Most often I discover that if persons are offered with the info, they beautiful quickly get on board with eager to be part of the reconciliation movement,”
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are three per cent of the population. They can’t do the heavy lifting in terms of change and infrastructure change, societal change, or altering attitudes.
“RAPs are a way of stepping in and making significant change.”
Over 1,000 organisations have formalised RAPs, and their implementation has had a real impact on improving employee understanding of Indigenous points, the Reconciliation Australia 2018 RAP Impact report found. This can have a circulate-on effect. It makes workers more engaged with their community and they typically select to donate to, or volunteer with, Indigenous organisations as a result.
A RAP also solidifies your organisation’s commitment to making a culturally safe work atmosphere, which expands your recruiting pool by making your workplace a more attractive employer to Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander employees.
Establish a working group
The following step is to kind a working group that will oversee all the RAP process. This group will need to be made up of various representatives from all sectors of your organisation.
The group is accountable for planning and implementing the RAP, so it might want to include members who have some precise power to make adjustments in the organisation, and members who understand it from a policy and culture perspective.
Lastly, for the RAP to be really successful, you’ll need involvement from members who work with customers or purchasers, so that individuals outside your organisation understand you are attempting to make a difference.
If you have any issues regarding in which and how to use indigenous cultural awareness training, you can contact us at our own webpage.