Reconciliation Action Plans are about taking good intent and turning it into action.
The Black Lives Matter protests that 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 rest of the inhabitants are well known, however the protests created new urgency to do something about them.
In July, the Australian authorities unveiled new Shut the Gap 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 launched RAPs as a way for organisations to include strategic reconciliation initiatives as a part of their business plans. The purpose of a RAP is to create meaningful opportunities to your organisation to actively help 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 four maturity levels that reflect the place organisations are in their reconciliation journey. They are: Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate. Each has a corresponding RAP type organisations can pursue. For instance, the Innovate level is for organisations that already understand the place they’ll improve on Indigenous points 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 workforce will ship you a template that can outline what you might want to do. There are some basic obligatory actions required by Reconciliation Australia comparable to celebrating national Reconciliation Day and growing knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. After that, it’s about the changes you may make.”
Because a number of organisations will start on the Mirror stage, this guide will outline the pillars you want to establish to start your reconciliation journey.
Research
This is where it all begins.
It may possibly help to look into why RAPs are so vital as well as the current issues facing Indigenous people. Reports such as Close the Hole can provide context to your RAP and may enable you with the next step.
Secure support
A part of a successful RAP is establishing help for reconciliation initiatives across your entire organisation. In most cases this needs to start at the top.
“Most frequently I find that if persons are introduced with the facts, they stunning 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 will’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 issues, the Reconciliation Australia 2018 RAP Impact report found. This can have a movement-on effect. It makes workers more engaged with their community they usually typically select to donate to, or volunteer with, Indigenous organisations as a result.
A RAP additionally solidifies your organisation’s commitment to creating 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 next step is to kind a working group that will oversee the complete RAP process. This group will need to be made up of various representatives from all sectors of your organisation.
The group is in control of planning and implementing the RAP, so it might want to encompass members who’ve some actual power to make changes within the organisation, and members who understand it from a coverage and tradition perspective.
Lastly, for the RAP to be really successful, you’ll want involvement from members who work with prospects or shoppers, so that folks outside your organisation understand you are trying to make a difference.
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