BIRMINGHAM — Keith Teichmann, director of innovative networks and marketing for Xylem, spoke with Water Technology Assistant Editor Maria Woodie about how a partnership consisting of Rotary International, the Malawi Children’s Village (MCV), and later, Xylem, helped a rural village in Malawi, Africa, become more self-sufficient.
In this special podcast, Teichmann discusses how MCV and Rotary International teamed together and came upon a strategy “to be preemptive in poverty activities, in particular poverty alleviation,” discovering irrigation and agriculture can provide a pathway to self-sufficiency. To help achieve better irrigation management, Xylem entered into the partnership to provide the necessary tools and technologies.
On how others can get involved in helping communities strive for self-sufficiency, Teichmann explains, “Local success begins with local investment.”
He continues, “Establishing this local representation provides a profound sense of engagement and provides a very tremendous sense of trust with those you’re servicing. And I would note that as we encourage these strategic investments, and for others who are going into these communities, we look at it as not only a cause for doing good business, which it is, but also as a cause for doing good.”
Other highlights in this podcast include: The effects of farm mechanization, a closer look at Xylem’s role in Mangochi, Malawi, how irrigation and agricultural solutions have helped push the rural village to be more self-sufficient, and more.
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