Messages through the RAFT

The RAFT: Respect, Accountability, Fairness, and Transparency

Using the RAFT: Behavior and Messages

If actions speak louder than words, then behaviors must shout!

Our words about who we are and what we represent, when we offer them, are often heard by others as aspirations or provisional—or as lies and hypocrisy. Our behaviors toward others, the ways we engage with others in relationships, are the true conveyers of our values.

People in the places where we intervene are not empty vessels of needs to be filled up. They are not potholes in the road to be repaired. The resources we bring, no matter how valuable and vital, do not bring development, or create safety. What people want more than things is to engage with other people in relationships through which, together, they devise strategies to bring significant, positive, lasting change. This is why our behaviors as we intervene are more important than any resources we provide.

Activities are what we do, behaviors show who we are. We can do a good activity—such as providing schools—but if we do it badly, without engaging with people, understanding their priorities, showing respect for their ideas and systems, the activity will not have the intended impact. Good activities can be completely negated by bad behaviors.

The RAFT

Do No Harm users have come up with a tool for reminding ourselves, and for conveying to others, the importance of the connecting mindset. The four characteristics of connecting mindsets are Respect, Accountability, Fairness, and Transparency.

Build a strong and sturdy RAFT and you will sail smoothly through your interactions with others. A rickety, leaky RAFT will make you sink.

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Next Page Patterns of Behavior and Mindsets

See the charts on the right: “The RAFT Chart” and “RAFT: Patterns of Behavior and Mindsets”