Ride hailing firm Grab is working with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to raise funds to support vulnerable communities in Southeast Asia.

Through the collaboration, Grab users are able to convert the points they earn into donations to the IFRC, making it the first time the IFRC has partnered with a smartphone app to accept donations.

“Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions for disasters while a wide number of people are still struggling to access food, safe water, health services or basic livelihoods,” said Jason Thompson, managing director at GrabPay Southeast Asia. “Working together with the Red Cross and Red Crescent to fund their programmes and help people in crisis or despair echoes our mission to drive Southeast Asia forward. Grab wants to stand together with IFRC in responding to disasters and making vulnerable people more resilient.”

In order to donate, Grab riders in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam are able to visit their GrabRewards catalogue and convert their points into donations with a single app. Furthermore, Grab users in Singapore can provide a donation starting at 5SGD in exchange for 2,200 GrabRewards points.

“Using GrabRewards as a platform makes donating as easy as a tap on your phone,” said Thompson. “The points our passengers earn from their rides will now give them not just access to a wide range of retail and lifestyle products, but also create a deeper sense of purpose with every ride that they take with Grab.”

The IFRC says it will redistribute each country’s donations to the local Red Cross or Red Crescent Society in that country. These funds will be used to help disaster risk reduction, respond to natural disasters and epidemics, improve safe water supplies, encourage blood donations, and enhance the protection of vulnerable groups.

Grab and the IFRC previously worked together in 2016 to promote road safety, provide emergency assistance, and provide Grab drivers with life-saving skills and road safety knowledge.

“We have in common a commitment to expand people-to-people connections and solidarity and contribute to build resilient communities, cities and countries,” said Pierre Kremer, head of partnerships for Asia Pacific at IFRC. “This is the commitment of the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and hundreds of thousands of volunteers working within communities in need. We are excited to work with Grab to explore new ways to tackle suffering and demonstrate the power of humanity in Southeast Asia.”