Each year, migrant workers send more than $450 billion in remittances to their families back home.

Half of this amount goes to rural areas where it is often difficult and expensive for the families to collect the money.

The Philippines has a large migrant population of more than 10 million of workers who send home more than $20 billion a year.

But, how does the money reach their families in remote rural areas when three-quarters of Filipinos do not have bank accounts?

Well, what every Filipino does have is a mobile phone, and now there is an innovative system that turns the cell phone into a mobile wallet, giving rural people instant access to the money sent to them from abroad.

Beng Poblete-Enriquez has more.

This feature was produced by Joanne Levitan of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Duration: 4'31"