Reconciliation Action Plans are about taking good intent and turning it into action.
The Black Lives Matter protests that have erupted across the globe have caused a number of Australians to rethink the issues affecting Indigenous communities.
The health, wealth and employment gaps between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the population 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 including 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 introduced RAPs as a way for organisations to include strategic reconciliation initiatives as part of their business plans. The purpose of a RAP is to create meaningful opportunities for your organisation to actively support and recognise Indigenous Australians. Like many initiatives, reconciliation is a process that may evolve as you and your organisation start to take action.
RAPs are broken down into 4 maturity levels that replicate where organisations are of their reconciliation journey. They are: Replicate, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate. Every has a corresponding RAP type organisations can pursue. For example, the Innovate stage is for organisations that already understand the place they will improve on Indigenous issues and have begun taking action to actively address them.
Step one for all organisations is to find out its maturity level. “Contact the RAP staff at Reconciliation Australia and find out which level you’ll start at,” says Anthony. “The RAP crew will ship you a template that may outline what you want to do. There are some primary compulsory actions required by Reconciliation Australia resembling celebrating national Reconciliation Day and growing knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. After that, it’s about the adjustments you possibly can make.”
Because numerous organisations will start on the Replicate stage, this guide will outline the pillars you need to establish to start your reconciliation journey.
Research
This is the place it all begins.
It will probably assist to look into why RAPs are so important as well as the present issues dealing with Indigenous people. Reports resembling Shut the Gap can provide context to your RAP and would possibly enable you to with the following step.
Secure help
A part of a successful RAP is establishing support for reconciliation initiatives throughout your entire organisation. In most cases this needs to start on the top.
“Most often I discover that if persons are presented with the information, they stunning quickly get on board with eager to be a part of the reconciliation movement,”
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are three per cent of the population. They’ll’t do the heavy lifting when it comes to 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 worker 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 and they usually choose to donate to, or volunteer with, Indigenous organisations as a result.
A RAP additionally 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.
Set up a working group
The subsequent step is to form a working group that can oversee all the RAP process. This group will have to 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’ve some precise power to make changes in the organisation, and members who understand it from a coverage and culture perspective.
Lastly, for the RAP to be really successful, you’ll need involvement from members who work with prospects or clients, so that individuals outside your organisation understand you are trying to make a difference.
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