Policy & Influence Manager

About Reall

Reall have been at the forefront of affordable housing for over 30 years. Originally operating as Homeless International, they started way back in 1989 as an NGO dedicated to the alleviation of housing poverty in the developing world. A pioneering approach to aid finance saw it devise ground-breaking projects, like the CLIFF (Community-Led Infrastructure Finance Facility) programme.

These initiatives led to deeper market participation and in 2014 the organisation became Reall, a social enterprise and limited company committed to leveraging capital finance to invest in affordable housing. As of 2019, their 30th year of operation, they have widened their remit. Now their goal is to put a roof over humanity by building the affordable homes movement.

The Role

Operating in an uncrowded space, Reall is poised to take their unique offering to scale, transform markets and drive a movement that will improve the lives of 100 million people by 2030.

This new role will work with the Head of Global Policy & Influence to play a pivotal role in establishing Reall as a global leader on affordable housing. The Policy and Influence Manager will help to leverage key stakeholders, bringing about changes in attitude, approach, and resource levels to transform global affordable housing markets.

Key Responsibilities:

• Policy and positioning: To contribute to the development of Reall’s strategic positioning around thematic areas, global development/policy frameworks and global events.
• Global and regional actors: To be a core member of the team delivering a step-change in Reall’s engagement with multilaterals, global think tanks and consultancies and regional actors in urban development, affordable housing, and related sectors. To design and deliver engagement plans to raise profile, influence changes in policy and practice and unlock the potential of affordable housing. Take the lead on designated relationships.
• Strategic networks: To help drive Reall’s active involvement in strategic networks to raise profile, share learning, unlock opportunities related to funding and to influence opinion. The objective is to crowd more actors and resources into the affordable housing space and address market blockages.
• Peer organisations and sector specialists: To help establish Reall as a thought-leader, build strong partnerships, share learning, and explore opportunities for collaboration, taking the lead on designated relationships.
• Events: In conjunction with the wider Market Transformation team, to ensure Reall has a platform and engages effectively at key events, sharing evidence, influencing opinion, and catalysing new relationships with key stakeholders.
• Research, learning and evidence: To support Reall’s research work, data gathering, learning and evidence sharing. To make effective use of data and evidence to position Reall as a sector leader and to influence changes in policy and practice that unlock housing markets that function for the low-income. To include the production of thought leadership pieces and wider collateral.
• Body of knowledge: To contribute to the growth and development of Reall’s body of knowledge, and to ensure deep understanding the systemic issues, policy and contextual implications, key players, and latest innovations.

Person Specification:

Education: A relevant degree or professional qualification. Further education or qualifications in the areas of international development, international relations, or policy, is preferred.

Experience: A minimum of 2 years’ relevant experience within a policy, advocacy, campaigns, or lobbying role, preferably within international development.

Key Competencies:

Essential:

• Effective communicator both orally and in written form.
• Persuasive ‘story-teller’, using evidence and examples to bring propositions to life.
• Ability to form an in-depth understanding of multifaceted issues. Strong on content, excellent analytical skills and ability to utilise information to inform and influence.
• Experience and understanding of the international development sector
• Excellent relationship building, collaboration and listening skills.

Desirable:

• Experience of international urban development and affordable housing.