USAID Funding Cuts - What It Means for our Communities

After years of building a grassroots waste management program with local communities in the Solomon Islands, our USAID funding has officially been cancelled.

This has placed the future of our Waste to Wealth program, and the livelihoods of the local team behind it, at immediate risk.

One of those team members is Jerold Bruno.

Originally from Marovo Lagoon, Jerold works with Positive Change for Marine Life’s waste collection team in the Western Province. Through his role, he helps collect household organic waste and turn it into compost using black soldier fly larvae: a practical solution that reduces pollution, supports local food systems, and creates paid work for community members.

For Jerold, this work is about more than waste collection. It is about responsibility, leadership, and changing the way people think about caring for their homes, communities, and ocean.

“Rubbish is found everywhere. People practice poor waste management. I want to be an example for all young boys and men – that cleaning our homes is everyone’s job, not just for women and girls.”

When Jerold is not working with the waste collection team, he enjoys cooking and listening to music. But it is his commitment to protecting the environment and challenging social norms that has made him such an important part of the program.

Through Waste to Wealth, Jerold has gained skills, a sense of purpose, and a reliable income to support his family with essentials like food and daily expenses. He is also helping show other young people that this work matters.

“A lot of young people in the Solomon Islands neglect this kind of work. But I’m proud to be someone who takes responsibility. The ocean’s life depends on our hands. We are the future generation — and if we don’t act now, our resources will disappear.”

The Reality We Now Face

With the cancellation of USAID funding, Jerold and many other members of our Solomon Islands team are at risk of losing their jobs in the coming months.

This is not only a loss of income for local workers. It also puts a proven community-led waste system at risk.

Without urgent alternative funding, waste collection services will be scaled back, organic waste will again be left without a clear recovery pathway, and plastic and other waste will continue to move through streets, mangroves, reefs, and coastal waters.

The impact will be felt by the same communities who have helped build this program from the ground up.

Waste to Wealth has shown what is possible when local leadership, practical systems, and environmental action come together. It has created jobs, reduced pollution, supported behaviour change, and helped communities take direct action to protect the marine environments they depend on.

Now, that progress needs support to continue.

Let’s Keep Jerold and our Solomon Islands casual staff employed!

Your support can help keep local team members in work, maintain essential waste collection services, and prevent years of community-led progress from being lost.

We are not giving up on this program, or on the people who have built it.

With your help, we can keep Waste to Wealth operating, keep waste out of the ocean, and keep local leaders like Jerold at the centre of the solution.