5 tips for introducing a Community Partnerships Grant 1. Ensure partners are ready for an intercultural relationship Mindset and willingness to partner and learn from each other are key elements of an intercultural relationship.
2. Build positive relationships prior to projects It’s often difficult to establish a rapport with people we don’t know and with whom we may think we have little in common. Some communities may not have met before, so if both sides connect prior to the creation of an intercultural project, this could prevent communities from feeling as though they are being brought together ‘artificially’.
3. Discuss leadership One of the most critical aspects of any partnership is leadership. Leadership is different in every cultural community. Due to cultural nuance, gender and/or religious roles and styles, leadership is demonstrated differently across cultures. At the beginning of a project, partners should reflect on the leadership characteristics within their cultural groups.
4. Start with the end in mind The overall purpose of the Partnerships Grants is not to complete a project, but to create ongoing, intercultural relationships
between members of different groups of people who would not usually interact with each other. To this end, the true achievement of a Partnership Grant is for a Grant to be used as a vehicle for the greater social outcome of interculturalism.
5. Create a climate for intercultural relationships Multiculturalism celebrates and values the differences between cultures but can lead to the unintended consequence of an absence of relationships between people from different cultural, language and faith backgrounds. Multiculturalism can also been seen as an identification of the ‘other’ as someone who is multicultural, without seeing the multicultural nature of Australianborn Indigenous and Anglo-Saxon residents. Interculturalism has an expectation of acknowledging difference while at the same time, working to create a sense of commonality by engaging people from all cultural backgrounds, including those of Australian Indigenous and Anglo-Saxon background. By providing the financial resources for groups to meet, form relationships and gain a better understanding of each other, the Partnerships Grant can create unique conditions for intercultural engagement.
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