Students from the Ngalangangpum School tending to the school garden with EON Foundation staff at Warmun in the East Kimberley.

For more than 10 years, the EON Foundation has worked with remote Aboriginal communities to make healthy choices easy choices.

EON Thriving Communities is a practical, hands-on gardening, nutrition education, cooking and hygiene program developed in partnership with remote schools and communities and based around edible vegetable, fruit and bush tucker gardens.

By developing the program in consultation with community members, and adapting its approach based on the feedback provided by communities, the EON Foundation supports local decision‑making.

“The EON Foundation works in partnership with communities working alongside them to make a lasting contribution to community health and sustainability, whilst establishing local edible gardens to improve food security and access to healthy food for school children, their families and community members,” EON Foundation General Manager, Anjie Brook, says.

“The program also focuses on providing a secure and sustainable source of healthy food to bring about generational change, improvement to health, education and economic opportunities for those in remote Aboriginal communities.”

As the program operates by invitation only, there is a high sense of ownership in the communities. Through funding from both the Australian Government and the Western Australian Government, the program is now working in 20 communities across Western Australia, with a long list of communities interested in being involved.

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