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 quite a lot of Australians to rethink the issues affecting Indigenous communities.
The health, wealth and employment gaps between Indigenous Australians and the remainder 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 together with reducing Indigenous incarceration rates.
For organisations that really feel the urgency act there is 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 a part of their business plans. The intention of a RAP is to create significant opportunities on your organisation to actively help and recognise Indigenous Australians. Like many initiatives, reconciliation is a process that can evolve as you and your organisation begin to take action.
RAPs are broken down into 4 maturity levels that reflect where organisations are of their reconciliation journey. They’re: Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate. Every has a corresponding RAP type organisations can pursue. For instance, the Innovate level is for organisations that already understand where they can 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 staff at Reconciliation Australia and find out which degree you will start at,” says Anthony. “The RAP staff will send you a template that will outline what you must do. There are some primary obligatory actions required by Reconciliation Australia corresponding to celebrating national Reconciliation Day and growing knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. After that, it’s about the modifications you possibly can make.”
Because a whole lot of organisations will start on the Mirror stage, this guide will outline the pillars it’s good to set up to start your reconciliation journey.
Research
This is the place it all begins.
It may well assist to look into why RAPs are so necessary as well as the current issues facing Indigenous people. Reports such as Close the Hole can provide context to your RAP and may make it easier to with the following step.
Secure support
A part of a successful RAP is establishing assist for reconciliation initiatives across the entire organisation. In most cases this must start at the top.
“Most often I discover that if individuals are introduced with the information, they pretty quickly get on board with eager to be part of the reconciliation movement,”
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons are three per cent of the population. They can’t do the heavy lifting by way of change and infrastructure change, societal change, or altering attitudes.
“RAPs are a way of stepping in and making meaningful change.”
Over 1,000 organisations have formalised RAPs, and their implementation has had a real impact on improving worker understanding of Indigenous issues, the Reconciliation Australia 2018 RAP Impact report found. This can have a flow-on effect. It makes staff more engaged with their community and they typically choose 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.
Set up a working group
The next step is to kind a working group that can oversee the complete RAP process. This group will need to be made up of varied representatives from all sectors of your organisation.
The group is in control of planning and implementing the RAP, so it might want to include members who’ve some precise energy to make adjustments within 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 customers or shoppers, so that folks outside your organisation understand you are trying to make a difference.
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