In 2002 the Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) undertook a groundbreaking initiative in the township of Alexandra in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the request of Southwark Metropolitan Police, and aware of the projects that CACT delivered locally with key stakeholders, the Trust was asked to undertake a community cohesion programme to use football to break down barriers that existed between the South African Police and young people in particular.

Using football as a vehicle, the aim of the project was to divert children away from crime and disorder, and educate them around issues such as citizenship, paraffin awareness and hygiene. 2002 marked a decade of existence for CACT allowing it to draw upon its vast experience and award-winning frameworks of community-based activity to implement programmes delivering sustainable social change. Nothing like this had been brought to South Africa before.

CACT worked in partnership with British Airways and Southwark Metropolitan Police to deliver the initial three-year programme that was funded by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Throughout the project key football club personnel, including the then chairman Martin Simons, and former chief executive Peter Varney, were able to visit South Africa at least four times a year to deliver and support the initiative.

The activity in Alexandra was so successful that the programme, upon request from the then British High Commissioner to South Africa Paul Boateng, who had visited the project extensively, was extended in 2006 to Cape Town. Boateng was so impressed with the impact that the programme had on the lives of children and adults in the townships that in 2008 he again requested an expansion of the programme to Durban. This programme is currently ongoing and will see education and community cohesion programmes up to and beyond the 2010 World Cup ensuring a sustainable programme of social change was left in the area even once the World Cup ends.

10 facts about our work in South Africa:

1. Over 1,000 children per week have received coaching and education programmes during week-long trips delivered by UK partners
2. 12,000 children per year are currently going through the programme setup in Alexandra
3. Over 100 teachers, police officers, community workers and the unemployed have gained a Level 1 coaching qualification
4. Three Premier League soccer clubs in South Africa are now running community scheme programmes
5. Over 50 schools are involved in the programme and are regularly visited by the South African Police Service in line with their safer school strategy
6. Ajax Cape Town Football Club employs four full time community officers, two of which live in townships and gained employment from training delivered by CACT
7. Ex-players such as Bob Bolder, Paul Elliott and Paul Mortimer have all supported and coached in South Africa
8. In total the Charlton Athletic Community Trust has worked in six townships affecting the lives of thousands of young children
9. Ajax Cape Town regularly brings to their home games approximately 5,000 children from the townships of Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain
10. IP guests who have visited the project include ex-club chairman Martin Simons, ex-CEO Peter Varney, Trust chairman Roger Godsiff MP, actor and trustee Karl Howman, ex-police commissioner Sir Ian Blair, current police commissioner Sir Paul Stevenson and Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards

CACT Objectives:To provide a sustainable community programme in areas of deprivation and promote community cohesion, empowering individuals to allow social change within townships. To deliver the FA Level 1 coaching qualification leading to employment opportunities at football clubs who have embraced the community scheme ethos modelled at Charlton Athletic Football Club. To capacity build and share best practice ensuring the programmes create a lasting legacy up to and beyond the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Charlton Athletic Football Club:
Use the power of the football club and the community ethos at Charlton to make a difference to the lives of the young and underprivileged in South Africa. To underpin the club’s corporate and social responsibility not only with our domestic work but in a third world country.

British Airways:
Continue its commitment to long-term community programmes to assist youth development, heritage and tourism, and the environment. Under the CSR umbrella British Airways endeavours to put something back into all countries they fly to and their involvement provides private sector support and engages other corporate partners whose funding will be used to allow a sustainable programme in South Africa.

Metropolitan Police Service:
To share best practice, to implement policies and procedures that work in the UK, to show the South African police service how football, the private sector (British Airways) and the police can work in a multi-agency approach to affect the lives of so many young people, divert them into positive activities and away from crime and disorder or being victims of crime and disorder and deliver positive messages to them using role models in a safe, enjoyable learning environment.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office:

To bring together key stakeholders who will make a real difference to the lives of people in South Africa, provide funding for the project to continue and embrace and promote the work done by the UK partners within South Africa.