Standing Together:
The Impact of GAIA’s Solidarity Fund
A Zero Waste future isn’t built by policies and programs alone—it’s built by people. By workers who collect and sort waste to support themselves and protect their communities. By organizers who stand up to false solutions and polluting industries. By leaders who dare imagine cleaner, safer cities. These are the people who make the Zero Waste movement real.
And too often, they are the same people who face the biggest risks, the most dangerous conditions. Worse, they are also the ones with the barest safety nets, rarely consulted in transition plans, and exposed to economic and physical displacements.
Photo courtesy of SWaCH
GAIA’s Solidarity Fund is meant to support workers and communities at-risk to enable them to respond collectively to immediate threats or attend to crisis.
Photo courtesy of Mother Earth Foundation
During the COVID-19 pandemic—when much of the world was brought to a standstill—waste workers continued to show up, day after day, to keep our communities clean, safe, and functioning. While many stayed safely indoors, they carried out essential work—at great personal risk. GAIA, together with its members on the ground, stood with them: fighting for their protection, providing vital support to ensure they had food on the table during those dark moments, reminding the whole world that our very defenders—in order to be able to carry out the work that would keep us safe—needed our support.
Recently, members of the Philippine National Waste Workers Association (PNWWA) experienced a tragedy no one should have to endure: a fire that tore through their homes, leaving them bereft of the essential things and in urgent need of basic support such as food, shelter, and clothing. Amidst the chaos and feelings of despair, GAIA was able to respond quickly, providing the relief they urgently needed. The support did not just ease suffering, it also helped them get back on their feet. More importantly, it gave them the message anyone would want to hear in their very hour of need: Your lives matter. You are not alone. We stand with you.
Months before that tragedy, the PNWWA community lost one of its officers—Rowena Romero. A pillar of strength, Rowena’s sudden departure left her family and colleagues grieving deeply. Through the Solidarity Fund, GAIA helped shoulder the burden, extending compassion and support, so they could concentrate on healing.
The Philippine capital faces over 23,000 displaced residents as government pushes waste-to-energy project despite human rights concerns | Photo courtesy of pressenza
In Smokey Mountain, Manila, approximately 23,000 marginalized families– of in which the majority of whom rely on the informal recycling economy as wastepickers, e-waste collectors, and junk shop owners– are facing illegal displacement from land that was promised to become their permanent housing in the 1980s. The displacement is driven by plans to construct a Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant promoted as a flooding prevention, renewable energy and job generation project. The WTE corporation has cut off public services such as water, sanitation, including support systems by barring other non-profit organizations from access to enter the project site. The people are fighting for their homes and livelihoods against powerful companies and politicians. Urgent support for mobilization, lobbying, and media work are needed to mount a strong solidarity work, resist incremental displacements and to engage multiple agencies at the local, national and regional levels.
These communities facing unjust transitions require political and financial resources.
These are not isolated stories. They are the lived realities of waste workers and community frontliners. These stories remind us of the essential roles they play in our lives, and highlight the power of the Solidarity Fund: the capability to act promptly, decisively, and with deep regard for human dignity when vulnerable partners and members are most at risk.
Photo courtesy of SWaCH
