Cultural competence should be visibly interwoven throughout your intervention. Increasing your group’s cultural competence means being open to modifying your planning and thinking processes to reflect the preferences of your target population(s).
For example:
- Some American Indian and Alaska Native communities prefer planning processes that are circular, such as using a Mind Map to brainstorm rather than a linear list or table.
- Faith-based organizations may believe that action-oriented plans should be tempered by other forms of spiritual guidance about the best way to move forward.
- Some folks may not be familiar with logic models. You may need to conduct several training sessions to get everyone to the same baseline of understanding. Ideally, you will not start work on a logic model until all coalition members understand and are comfortable with the process.
Listening to and incorporating different viewpoints promotes fruitful discourse and consensus building. This will also help you develop a plan that is culturally competent and shows respect for participants’ values, and is therefore more likely to succeed.32
Your plan to increase your group’s cultural competence should include the following:
- Measurable goals and objectives with concrete timelines
- Example: Contact 30 different community organizations within six months, with the ultimate goal of recruiting 12 new partners
- Strategies to involving representatives from all sectors of the community in your prevention efforts
- Example: If the aim of your logic model is to reduce the use of heroin among young adults, outline the steps your group will take to include young adults from diverse backgrounds as full participants in your efforts, rather than solely as the target of your activities
- Who is responsible for the proposed action steps
- What potential resources needed
It’s important to review the cultural competence plan on a regular basis.
Note: Your cultural competence planning process may identify several areas of discord among members of your organization or coalition. This is actually a good opportunity to address these differences early on, thereby preventing them from resurfacing later and derailing your work.