School gardens are an acknowledged method to increase children’s awareness of natural products and the environment in urban areas, as well as to improve children’s nutritional status. Schools benefit from these programs as they increase the school’s reputation, the teachers’ and parents' satisfaction, as well as the children’s learning motivation. 

The development of a school garden in Hanoi is one of the nutrition interventions that are being modelled and implemented in the NIFAM project. The Center for Organic Agriculture Development and Support (CODAS) is the implementing partner of this initiative, which aims to support sustainable food education models in urban schools.

As an initial budget and a suitable space are prerequisites for installing a school garden, the choice for a school to implement this nutrition intervention was challenging. Together with the CCD (Center for Children Development), the Genesis School in Hanoi was selected to host the pilot project of creating a school garden.

The Genesis Eco School Garden is designed to transform the food environment for children by serving as a living classroom that showcases healthy food choices and builds an understanding of nutrition. This initiative not only promotes vegetable consumption but also creates a direct link between farm-to-table practices and daily meals. By integrating sustainable agriculture with educational activities, the garden aims to inspire healthy eating habits, improve nutritional awareness, and cultivate environmental stewardship among students.

The garden was conceptualized with three main objectives:

•  Enhancing Food Environment: Creating a space where children can see firsthand how vegetables and herbs are grown, enhancing their understanding of nutritious food.
•  Educational Integration: Using the garden as a living classroom to teach students about healthy food choices, the benefits of eating vegetables, and sustainable agriculture practices.
• Farm-to-Meal Connection: Demonstrating the complete cycle from planting to harvest to meal preparation, thereby promoting a farm-to-table mindset among the school community.

CODAS and NIFAM team members started planning the installation of a school garden in Hanoi in November 2023. The Genesis School in Hanoi was chosen due to their deep interest in gardening, their  motivation to build a school garden on their grounds, and a budget to support the installation together with CODAS and NIFAM.

Throughout November and December 2023 and the beginning of 2024, CODAS members met with experts, garden designers, and local stakeholders to gather details about implementing the school garden and to deepen the school garden concept. The key ideas included creating an inspiring green space that could serve as a cross-disciplinary educational environment, improve nutritional awareness, and provide hands-on experiences in sustainable agriculture and healthy eating.

On February 22^nd CODAS, Genesis school and CCD representatives signed an MOU to start the collaboration to build a school garden at the Genesis School. 

The final draft of the Genesis School Garden design was submitted on March 7^th, 2024, to CODAS and the Genesis School. The walkways are indicated in white and the violet space is the school garden entrance hall. 

With the final school garden design version, the budget for the school garden construction, the first seeding and planting, and buying all necessary tools was calculated. This budget also contained funds to employ professionals for setting up the garden.

After approximately six months of work,  the Genesis Eco School Garden was officially inaugurated on May 7th, 2024. Local and international experts, advisors, architects, and members of the Genesis Gardening Club attended the opening ceremony at the Nam Từ Liêm campus of the school. 

The community and involved team members reflected on the journey of creating the garden and shared memorable moments and thoughts.

The Genesis Eco Garden has been well-received by the school community. Teachers, students, and parents expressed pride and enthusiasm for the project. The garden quickly became a living classroom and a green symbol of Genesis School’s education philosophy.

Feedback from the Genesis community has been overwhelmingly positive. The garden has emerged as a dynamic educational tool that:

• Attracted not only children but also their parents, who became actively involved in gardening activities to better understand nutritious food and vegetable consumption.
• Provided practical lessons on sustainable agriculture and the experiential farm-to-table lifestyle.
• Generated increased interest from other schools, which has spurred plans for expansion, including proposals to replicate the model at Herman Gmeiner School.

The school garden initiative also helped the Genesis School Board define its roadmap to becoming an Eco-School and earned the 1st Prize at the Eco-School Awards on December 27^th, 2024. 

Since then, the garden has been expanded to 300 m² and inspired further green initiatives. 

CODAS closely participated in the school garden project and published a guideline booklet for creating an urban garden, highlighting the importance of locally or home-grown food. This guideline is the basis for the ongoing training activities for teachers, parents, and children that are done in the Genesis Eco School Garden. 

One interdisciplinary training workshop took place on the 17^th and 18^th of August, 2024, involving teachers in STEAM subjects and focused on the important correlation between Health - Nutrition - Local Food.

The success of the Genesis Eco School Garden led to a proposal to create a new school garden at the Herman Gmeiner School. CODAS members will be closely advising and working together with Herman Gmeiner stakeholders to design and install another successful school garden, supported by NIFAM funding.

Future projects focus on the installation of ecological school gardens in public schools in Hanoi, to overcome a potential budget and spatial availability barrier.