MasterCard gives travellers options to give back in Cambodia

Student with new bike

MasterCard in conjunction with Hotel de la Paix, Cambodia are now giving travellers even more options to give back to the community through the Purchase with Purpose platform.

Purchase with Purpose is MasterCard’s overarching social responsibility program in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, with a key focus on women and children.? Under the Purchase with Purpose program certain purchases from MasterCard members then result in charitable initiatives from the company.

Under the scheme, one initiative made in conjunction with Hotel de la Paix which took place between the 1st of October and 31st of December 2008, saw every room paid for with a MasterCard card eventuate in a bicycle donated from MasterCard to the hotel’s pushbike for kids travelling to school initiative.

More recently, MasterCard sponsored ten women for the ten-month Hotel de la Paix Sewing Training Centre Program, which will see them garner skills in sewing, English, as well as basic education to set up their own business.

“Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world with more than 30 percent of the population still living in extreme poverty. In addition, women are disadvantaged as they do not enjoy equal access to education and paid employment,” remarks Georgette Tan, MasterCard VP Communications Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa.

“We commend the efforts of Hotel de la Paix in helping these women and are glad to be contributing to this initiative.

“This initiative is part of our broader commitment to women?s advancement and we look forward to seeing these women stand on their own feet to support themselves and their families,” she adds.

Other MasterCard Purchase with Purpose include MasterCard–Great Singapore Sale Shop for a Cause night, which saw 20 people given SGD2,000 pre-paid cards to spend on items for their chosen charities, as well as the Live Green, Shop Green movement in China which targets women and calls on them to reduce their consumption of plastic bags.