Our Story
The Sir Bobby Charlton Foundation is a UK registered charity (no.1140911) that was founded in 2011 by football legend Sir Bobby Charlton.
When the charity first started, our work to address the legacy of conflict was focused on landmines and the explosive remnants of war. This took the form of: developing new technologies that would make the removal of landmines quicker and safer; mine risk education for the most vulnerable communities where the presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance continue to threaten lives on a daily basis; and work to improve surgical techniques and prosthetics for those who had suffered explosive blast injuries and limb loss. This work continues today and has delivered some impressive results. However, following a review in 2017 we have recognised that there is more we can and must do to support conflict affected communities more directly.
As a result of listening to our beneficiaries & partners, and studying the impact of war on civilian populations, we now work more holistically on conflict recovery and take an asset based approach to those we aim to support. We have added humanitarian and development projects to our programmes and now conduct a wider range of training for conflict affected communities. One of the key mechanisms for delivering these interventions are the network of conflict recovery centres that we are developing in war torn countries. While all conflicts have economic, social, environmental and cultural consequences for communities, each situation and community is unique and the conflict recovery centres are an asset that can be shaped to the particular needs and aspirations of people in each location.