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Gardens of hope in highlands

In the late afternoon at Cam Con Semi-Boarding Primary School for Ethnic Minorities (Bao Yen District, Lao Cai Province), joyful chatter echoes throughout the vibrant school garden. Ha Thi Thuy, a 5th-grade student, carefully tends to the vegetable beds and shares excitedly “Since we got the garden, we’ve had fresh vegetables every day. What I enjoy most is learning how to grow vegetables and raise chickens, so I can help my parents at home.”

Once a barren patch of land, the garden was revitalized in the 2020–2021 school year with support from Save the Children. Equipped with a canopy system, irrigation network, and enclosed animal pens, it now provides clean food for nearly 100 boarding students.

A vegetable garden at Cam Con Semi-Boarding Primary School for Ethnic Minority Students in Bao Yen District, Lao Cai Province. (Photo: Save the Children)

Dao Quang Quyen, a physical education teacher and head of hygiene and labor activities, said “Previously, food had to be bought from distant markets—it was expensive and often unsafe. Since implementing the school farm model, we grow our own vegetables like cabbage, okra, squash, and beans, and raise pigs and chickens to enrich the children's meals. Meals have become more diverse, hygienic, and cost-effective.” Currently, the garden supplies 50–100% of the school’s daily vegetable needs.

Beyond nutrition, the garden also serves as a practical classroom for life skills. “Many children already help their parents with farming, but mostly out of habit and not necessarily the right way. With structured guidance from teachers, they’ve become more confident and effective in their work. It teaches them discipline, the value of labor, and builds independence,” said Quyen.

Long-term commitment to Vietnamese children's health

The garden at Cam Con School is just one of many Save the Children initiatives improving child nutrition in Vietnam.

In northern mountainous provinces such as Son La and Yen Bai—where stunting rates in children once reached 54%—numerous projects have focused on improving nutrition for children under five, particularly targeting stunting reduction.

Among them, the "Vietnam Northern Mountain Integrated Child Nutrition Improvement Project," supported by the World Bank's Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) implemented from 2017 to 2022, stands out for its sustainable impact.

A cooking session on how to prepare nutritious and appropriate meals for H'mong ethnic children. (Screenshot from a Save the Children video)

In project areas, mothers and pregnant women received training in maternal and child health care, including breastfeeding techniques and preparing age-appropriate, nutrient-rich meals from local ingredients.

Vi Thi Duyen, from Ang Village in Moc Chau District, Son La Province, shared “During my first pregnancy, I didn’t know how to eat properly. But after joining nutrition classes and receiving full vaccinations, my second child has been much healthier and rarely gets sick.”

Through nutrition education and recovery support, the project improved nutrition for over 3,000 children. Severe acute malnutrition cases without complications were treated with energy-dense ready-to-use therapeutic food.

Additionally, more than 6,000 households were trained in improved agricultural practices, such as raising poultry, growing vegetables, and composting, helping enhance food security and livelihoods.

Since 2008, Save the Children has maintained a nationwide program providing Vitamin A supplements to children aged 6 to 59 months and multivitamins to pregnant women. Each year, this program reaches approximately 8 million children across all 63 provinces and cities, as well as more than 60,000 pregnant women in the country’s 83 poorest districts.

Save the Children's efforts go beyond mountainous regions. The organization has also implemented the "School Health and Nutrition" project in urban areas including Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City, and Tien Giang.

Nguyen Ngoc Anh, a fourth-grade student in Hai Phong, shared“After learning about personal hygiene, I even taught my parents how to wash their hands properly. I want to become a doctor in the future to help people stay healthy.”

The project also upgraded facilities in over 125 schools, including 122 handwashing stations, sanitary toilets, and nutrition gardens. More than 30,000 integrated classes on oral health and school health have been conducted.

Thanks to these positive outcomes, the project’s intervention model has been expanded to 142 additional schools and has received favorable feedback from local authorities. All participating schools have committed to maintaining, scaling up health education and communication activities in the future.

Whether in remote highlands or bustling cities, Save the Children's initiatives have made lasting impacts. Le Thi Thanh Huong, country director of Save the Children in Vietnam, emphasized “We will continue striving to improve the health and nutrition of children, especially the most vulnerable, and seek innovative solutions to address emerging challenges caused by the socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are committed to working alongside the Government of Vietnam in building the best possible environment for children and look forward to ongoing support and collaboration from government agencies and partners.”

With the successes already achieved, Save the Children’s journey alongside Vietnamese children promises to remain a source of inspiration for future community development programs.

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