About Us

Our Vision

Healthy children and young people living in sustainable communities across Australia.

Our Purpose

We enable children and young people to form positive food habits for life. 

Our Role

We support communities and educators across Australia to deliver pleasurable food
education and kitchen garden programs for children and young people by providing
inspiration, information, extensive resources, capability and professional development,
a national community of practice, and ongoing support.

Pleasurable Food Education 

Pleasurable food education inspires children and young people to understand and connect with fresh, delicious food through fun, hands-on learning.

This approach empowers children and young people to develop practical skills, an appreciation of seasonal produce, and a positive, confident and healthy relationship with food — for life.

Strategy

A summary of our strategic priorities, 2023-28, can be found here.

Theory of Change

Find out how our program contributes to improved health and wellbeing for all Australians and the steps we take to help make this happen. Our Theory of Change can be found here.

Alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals

We are regarded as a global leader in kitchen garden education. We align with both internationally and nationally recognised social and environmental initiatives including:

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): a universal set of 17 goals created by the United Nations. These goals act as an urgent call to action for countries to help end global poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all by the end of 2030. Our program supports:

           GOAL 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

           GOAL 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all, at all ages

           GOAL 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

           GOAL 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

           GOAL 12 - Ensure sustainable production and consumption patterns 

           GOAL 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

           Our contributions and impact can be found here.

Our work supports

• The World Health Organization’s Health Promoting Schools model and Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion
• The UN Food and Agriculture School Food and Nutrition Framework
• The Victorian Government’s Consensus Statement ‘A Healthier Start for Victorians’
• the National Preventative Health Strategy through improving access to and the consumption of a healthy diet by enhancing health literacy in partnership with communities.
• the National Obesity Strategy by enabling healthier schools and early childhood settings, empowering people to adopt healthier behaviours.
• the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (2019) enabling schools to meet the individual needs of all learners, aiding education’s role in supporting the wellbeing, mental health and resilience of young people. 
• the Good Practice Guide Supporting Healthy Eating and Drinking at School with the framework to deliver
  •  Evidence based food literacy
  • Whole of school approach
  • Creating healthy school environments, delivery of health and nutrition literacy, and increased physical activity among school-age children and young people