Reconciliation Action Plans are about taking good intent and turning it into action.
The Black Lives Matter protests which have erupted throughout the globe have caused plenty 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, but 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 apparent solution – a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
In 2006, Reconciliation Australia introduced RAPs as a way for organisations to include strategic reconciliation initiatives as a part of their enterprise plans. The purpose of a RAP is to create significant opportunities for your organisation to actively help and recognise Indigenous Australians. Like many initiatives, reconciliation is a process that may evolve as you and your organisation begin to take action.
RAPs are broken down into 4 maturity levels that mirror the place organisations are of their reconciliation journey. They’re: 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 points and have begun taking action to actively address them.
Step one for all organisations is to find out its maturity level. “Contact the RAP workforce at Reconciliation Australia and discover out which degree you’ll start at,” says Anthony. “The RAP workforce will ship you a template that will outline what you should do. There are some fundamental compulsory actions required by Reconciliation Australia akin to celebrating national Reconciliation Day and rising knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. After that, it’s in regards to the changes you can make.”
Because a lot of organisations will start at the Replicate stage, this guide will outline the pillars you should establish to start your reconciliation journey.
Research
This is the place it all begins.
It could possibly help to look into why RAPs are so essential as well as the current points facing Indigenous people. Reports resembling Close the Hole can provide context to your RAP and might enable you with the following step.
Safe assist
Part of a successful RAP is establishing help for reconciliation initiatives across your complete organisation. In most cases this needs to start at the top.
“Most frequently I discover that if individuals are introduced with the info, they pretty quickly get on board with wanting to be part of the reconciliation movement,”
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals are three per cent of the population. They’ll’t do the heavy lifting in terms of change and infrastructure change, societal change, or changing 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 stream-on effect. It makes employees more engaged with their community they usually usually select to donate to, or volunteer with, Indigenous organisations as a result.
A RAP also solidifies your organisation’s commitment to creating a culturally safe work environment, which expands your recruiting pool by making your workplace a more attractive employer to Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander employees.
Set up a working group
The subsequent step is to type a working group that will oversee the complete RAP process. This group will must be made up of varied representatives from all sectors of your organisation.
The group is in charge of planning and implementing the RAP, so it might want to include members who have some actual power to make changes in the organisation, and members who understand it from a policy and culture perspective.
Lastly, for the RAP to be really profitable, you’ll want involvement from members who work with customers or clients, so that individuals outside your organisation understand you are trying to make a difference.
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