Xylem has partnered with current Premier League Champions Manchester City Football Club to deliver clean water towers, WASH education, and sports and leadership training to communities in Bangalore, India.
The Cityzens Giving Water Goals project will benefit over 5000 children this year.
Sponsored by Xylem, Water Goals earned the top ranking among six projects in Manchester City’s annual Cityzens Giving global community initiative, gaining more than 450 000 votes from football fans around the world and receiving £92 000 of grant funding.
Between 13–16 February 2019, Xylem, together with Manchester City FC and Xylem’s non-governmental organization (NGO) partner Planet Water Foundation, built clean water filtration towers at two government primary schools in Bangalore, which will provide long-term, sustainable access to clean water for the surrounding community. Throughout the week, the organizations, along with local Cityzens Giving NGO partner Magic Bus, teamed up to deliver training to Young Leaders, with a focus on how education on water hygiene and sanitation can be taught through football. The week culminated in a community football festival for over 100 children from the local community.
The Water Goals project in Bangalore is part of Xylem’s ongoing social impact initiative, conducted by the company’s corporate citizenship program Watermark, alongside Xylem’s partner Planet Water Foundation, which is responsible for water tower construction.
“We’re honoured to support these important social impact initiatives, which will provide education and training and improve access to safe, clean water, benefitting over 5000 children in Bangalore communities,” said Patrick Decker, Xylem president and CEO. “Our partnership with Manchester City is about inspiring people of all ages to focus on water challenges in their communities. It’s also about mobilizing a global movement to help us embrace the opportunity of a lifetime – to solve water. We look forward to building on this momentum in the coming months.”
“We at City Football Group are very proud of Cityzens Giving,” said Ferran Soriano, chief executive of City Football Group. “Once again, we are investing in the future through community football projects around the world and the inspirational Young Leaders who are using the power of football in the most positive ways imaginable.”
The Cityzens Giving project caps a record year for Xylem Watermark, which engaged around 45% of Xylem’s global employee base who collectively logged more than 53 000 volunteer hours giving back to local communities. Watermark also exceeded its three-year goal to log 100 000 employee volunteer hours.
