Xylem Inc., a leading global water technology company dedicated to solving the world’s most challenging water issues, is partnering with the Cityzens Giving annual charitable campaign launched today, a Manchester City Football Club global community initiative, which helps young leaders around the world change lives through the power of football.
Now in its’ sixth year, Cityzens Giving sees City Football Group and its partners once again donating £400,000 to six community football projects run by young leaders in cities around the world.
Over the course of the six-week campaign, fans will hear first-hand from the young leaders in each of the six projects and will be asked to vote for the one that resonates most with them. The more votes a project gets, the greater the funding it will receive.
Last year, the safe water project in Bangalore, supported by Xylem, received the most votes, and received the largest grant of the £400,000 in funding.
As a partner of Manchester City, Xylem is proud to be supporting a new safe water project in Cape Coast, Ghana, as one of the six initiatives in the campaign. The project, “Kicking for Change,” will combine football, safe water education and equipment to provide clean water access to schools and communities to help prevent waterborne illnesses and keep children in school.
While Ghana has made large strides in reducing poverty through economic growth, more than 60% of the population still lacks access to safe drinking water, leaving them vulnerable to water-related illness and disease. Children in Ghana, girls especially, often have to walk extremely long distances to collect water, making them late for school, or absent altogether due to illness from waterborne diseases.
This project will use football to teach children about life-saving water and sanitation education, keeping them healthy and in school, and will be combined with a new clean water source in the community. This project is delivered in partnership with Play Soccer Ghana, and is generously supported by Xylem.
“Xylem is committed to raising awareness of global water challenges and our partnership with Cityzens Giving for this project will provide a powerful opportunity to share in a community commitment to solving water” said Joseph Vesey, Xylem Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “We look forward to watching the votes and to moving forward on a great initiative for the youth of Cape Coast, Ghana, to help advance education for young girls, water security and work towards a more sustainable future.”
Ferran Soriano, Chief Executive of City Football Group, said:
“At City Football Group we are incredibly proud of Cityzens Giving. Over the past five years the campaign has gone from strength to strength and we are passionate about letting our fans choose from projects around the world and empowering our Young Leaders to inspire their local communities.
“The sixth year of the Cityzens Giving campaign sees more young people than ever before connecting with their communities and using football to find solutions to the social issues they are facing. More than 10,000 young people around the world are now engaged each year through our Cityzens Giving projects. Our Cityzens decide where the effort and the money go, making a positive difference in the world through the power of football.”
Starting today, fans from across the City Football Group network can vote for their preferred cause at: mancity.com/cityzensgiving.
