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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 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 Close the Gap targets including reducing Indigenous incarceration rates.

For organisations that really feel the urgency act there’s one obvious 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 intention of a RAP is to create significant opportunities for your organisation to actively support and recognise Indigenous Australians. Like many initiatives, reconciliation is a process that will evolve as you and your organisation start to take action.

RAPs are broken down into 4 maturity levels that reflect where organisations are in their reconciliation journey. They’re: Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate. Every has a corresponding RAP type organisations can pursue. For example, the Innovate degree 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 staff at Reconciliation Australia and find out which level you will start at,” says Anthony. “The RAP team will ship you a template that will define what you want to do. There are some fundamental compulsory actions required by Reconciliation Australia reminiscent of celebrating national Reconciliation Day and increasing knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. After that, it’s about the adjustments you’ll be able to make.”

Because quite a lot of organisations will start on the Mirror stage, this guide will define the pillars you have to set up to start your reconciliation journey.

Research

This is where it all begins.

It may well help to look into why RAPs are so necessary as well as the current points facing Indigenous people. Reports equivalent to Shut the Gap can provide context to your RAP and may allow you to with the next step.

Safe help

A part of a profitable RAP is establishing support for reconciliation initiatives throughout your complete organisation. In most cases this needs to start at the top.

“Most frequently I discover that if persons are offered with the details, they pretty 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 can’t do the heavy lifting by way of change and infrastructure change, societal change, or changing 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 employee understanding of Indigenous points, the Reconciliation Australia 2018 RAP Impact report found. This can have a circulation-on effect. It makes workers more engaged with their community and so they often 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 environment, 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 subsequent step is to type a working group that may oversee the whole RAP process. This group will must 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 will need to include members who’ve some precise power to make adjustments in the organisation, and members who understand it from a policy and culture perspective.

Lastly, for the RAP to be really successful, you’ll need 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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