Having developed your policies, programs and services it is important that they are regularly reviewed, monitored and evaluated. Some questions to ask in this process might include:
Barriers
- What have we done to identify and address the barriers to people from ethnic and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities using our service?
- How successful have we been?
- How effective is our data collection in substantiating this?
Consultation
- How many and what types of consultation meetings have been held?
- How many people have participated?
- What has been achieved as a result?
- What has been requested at consultation meetings that has not been delivered and why?
- What is the cost/benefit ratio of consultation meetings?
- How many people from ethnic and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities participate in our organisation and in what positions?
- What cultural sensitivity training have we provided or accessed and who attended?
- What, if any, grievance reports have been brought under our cultural inclusion policy?
- How may culturally specific organisations have Memorandums of Agreement with us and what do they provide?
- In what ways have we interacted with the key ethnic and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?
Participation
- How many people from ethnic and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities participate in our organisation and in what positions?
- What cultural sensitivity training have we provided or accessed and who attended?
- What, if any, grievance reports have been brought under our cultural inclusion policy?
Networking
- How may culturally specific organisations have Memorandums of Agreement with us and what do they provide?
- In what ways have we interacted with the key ethnic and Aboriginal and Torres Islander communities?
Service delivery
- How many people from ethnic and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have used our services and what services have they accessed?
- Why do they leave?
- What changes have there been to our service approach, procedures or written policies to improve the quality and relevance of these services?
- What, if any, complaints have been received that are relevant to our cultural inclusion strategy?
Be sure to consult widely in your evaluation and to make your finding public, particularly to the people you seek to serve. Even negative results are valuable. Your willingness to disclose will build trust and may attract the support you need to achieve your goals of equity and inclusion.
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