Reall secures funding from Innovate UK

We are pleased to announce that Reall, in partnership with University of Warwick, has received funding from Innovate UK KTN, the UK’s innovation agency, via the Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT) programme.

AKTs fund collaborations between businesses and academic knowledge bases to rapidly inject innovation and knowledge into businesses and deliver impact. Reall and University of Warwick will use this to further strengthen Reall’s impact on gender equality and women’s empowerment and use this to unlock new gender-focused financing for Reall and affordable housing.

Over the next four months, Reall will be joined by Natalie Rothwell, an expert in the gender dimensions of affordable housing who is currently finalising her PhD at University of Warwick. Natalie will be supported by Juanita Elias, a gender and international development specialist and Professor in International Political Economy at the University of Warwick.

This project delivers two innovations to Reall in responding to this challenge:

1. Development of a gender equality strategy fully aligned with the external funder market. Fully embedding a gender-lens approach within the entire organisation, supporting Reall to become a thought leader in the gender and affordable housing policy sphere and strengthening its ability to successfully unlock gender-focused funding (grant and loan) for our housing work.
2. Application of a ‘Gender Evaluation Toolkit’ approach to Reall’s organisation, a ‘First of Its Kind’ approach in affordable housing. This exploits the latest research and methodologies from the academic partners and ensures Reall is best placed to exploit their new gender strategy, and fully realise the potential impact.

Ben Atkinson our Programme Lead – Data and Evidence, says “We know that affordable housing has the potential to be truly transformative for women and girls, and see this regularly across our housing projects. We are excited by the potential that this project has to further strengthen the gender impact of Reall’s work, and to unlock new funding streams by effectively positioning affordable housing as one of the most effective interventions to improve gender equality.”

Professor Juanita Elias quotes, “We are excited about developing this collaboration between Reall and the University of Warwick, as it presents a significant opportunity to gain deeper understanding of how research insights can enhance Reall’s funding strategy and, more generally, their work in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment within affordable housing initiatives.”