We often talk about cultural awareness among organisations and staff. Cultural competency takes that awareness to a deeper level of understanding and confidence when working within Aboriginal culture.
There are five essential elements which contribute to the ability of an organisation to become more culturally competent:
- Valuing diversity
- Having the capacity for cultural self-assessment
- Being conscious of the dynamics inherent when cultures interact
- Having institutionalised culture knowledge
- Having developed adaptations to service delivery that reflect an understanding of cultural diversity
These elements align with the Aboriginal Cultural Competency Standards for Community Housing Providers.
[icon_text box_type=”normal” icon=”fa-quote-left” icon_type=”normal” icon_position=”left” icon_size=”fa-2x” use_custom_icon_size=”no” title=”Assessing how our services measure up to the cultural competencies will be a big challenge. It will take time and will need focused conversations and strong engagement by the RAP working group and our staff across all seven competencies.” title_tag=”h4″ separator=”no” text=”- Nickie Murcell, Service Development Officer” icon_color=”#c1c1c1″]
