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 lot of Australians to rethink the problems affecting Indigenous communities.
The health, wealth and employment gaps between Indigenous Australians and the remainder of the population are well known, however the protests created new urgency to do something about them.
In July, the Australian authorities unveiled new Shut the Hole targets together with reducing Indigenous incarceration rates.
For organisations that really feel the urgency act there’s 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 part of their enterprise plans. The purpose of a RAP is to create significant 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 begin to take action.
RAPs are broken down into 4 maturity levels that replicate the place organisations are in their reconciliation journey. They are: Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate. Every has a corresponding RAP type organisations can pursue. For example, the Innovate level is for organisations that already understand the place they’ll improve on Indigenous points and have begun taking motion to actively address them.
The first step for all organisations is to find out its maturity level. “Contact the RAP team at Reconciliation Australia and discover out which degree you’ll start at,” says Anthony. “The RAP workforce will send you a template that will define what you should do. There are some basic compulsory actions required by Reconciliation Australia akin to celebrating nationwide Reconciliation Day and rising knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. After that, it’s concerning the adjustments you may make.”
Because a lot of organisations will start at the Replicate stage, this guide will outline the pillars you must set up to start your reconciliation journey.
Research
This is the place it all begins.
It may help to look into why RAPs are so essential as well as the present issues dealing with Indigenous people. Reports corresponding to Shut the Hole can provide context to your RAP and might help you with the following step.
Secure assist
Part of a successful RAP is establishing assist for reconciliation initiatives throughout the complete organisation. In most cases this must start at the top.
“Most frequently I find that if persons are offered with the facts, they pretty quickly get on board with desirous to be a 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 when it comes to 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 worker understanding of Indigenous points, the Reconciliation Australia 2018 RAP Impact report found. This can have a circulation-on effect. It makes employees more engaged with their community and so they typically choose 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 setting, 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 type a working group that can oversee the whole RAP process. This group will need to be made up of assorted representatives from all sectors of your organisation.
The group is in command of planning and implementing the RAP, so it will need to encompass members who have some actual energy to make changes in the organisation, and members who understand it from a policy and culture perspective.
Lastly, for the RAP to be really successful, you’ll want involvement from members who work with prospects or purchasers, so that folks outside your organisation understand you are trying to make a difference.
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