Polskiedzieci.org: Rethinking children’s nutrition in Poland

When school cafeterias were filled with sugary snacks and children were skipping breakfast, Natalia Rokita saw an urgent need and an opportunity. What began as a simple conversation about children's health sparked a powerful, nationwide movement. Today, Fundacja Polskiedzieci.org is helping thousands of children and families rethink how they eat, move, and live. From hands-on workshops to smart vending machines, from national partnerships to a pioneering Children's Council, this is a story of how one founder and one foundation are making health education in Poland more practical, inclusive, and impactful than ever before.

The Mission

My name is Natalia Rokita, and I have been running the Polskiedzieci.org foundation since 2016. The initiative to create the foundation came from the president of the company where I used to work, Trans.eu (Piotr Hunker), who approached me and said, “Natalia, we need to do something for children to educate them about nutrition and health”. Initially, I focused on responding to needs related to nutritional education, and with a dietitian, I conducted culinary workshops that were based on 80% practical and 20% theoretical. Trans.eu became the founder of the foundation, thanks to which I have been able to fulfil my mission of promoting health for almost 10 years. Throughout these years, I continue to feel that what I do and what I am involved in makes sense, and I am glad that my work is also my mission.

Thanks to our participation in the Social Tides program, we have managed to establish four pillars upon which we build our activities: Sport, Hygiene (including digital hygiene), Diet, and Rest. We have shifted our priorities towards Client Journey improvement. We operate within educational institutions – in kindergartens, we conduct workshops, training sessions, picnics, and events related to the aforementioned principles. In primary schools, we are implementing the "Jem Bo Wiem" (I Eat Because I Know) project, which includes the operation of vending machines in facilities. We educate through practical experience in the fields of mental and physical health and health promotion. An interesting innovation we have introduced is payment keychains in "JEM BO WIEM" vending machines – children used to leave school and buy junk food, but thanks to these keychains, parents can be sure that their child will purchase from our vending machine, and the parent knows that the child will eat breakfast. 

Jem Bo Wiem (Automated subtitles available)

Additionally, this year taught us the importance of collaboration with other experts. A valuable lesson learned is that we don't have to do everything ourselves – what's crucial is how we integrate other individuals into our projects and how we train them. This way, we provide them with work and an entry into the environment related to habit formation.

The Social Tides program

Participation in the program helped me objectively look at what I've been doing for 10 years. I know that the limitation isn't money – because we received it – but rather what is truly needed. Thanks to this support, we changed our approach to building the brand itself; the foundation strengthened its position as an expert in health prevention. I learned and was empowered by how to transform an idea into an outcome. Before starting any activity, we now ask our audience about their expectations and confront our ideas to perfectly match topics and actions. We realised that from the beginning, children have been inspiring us to act and setting our path – which is why we established the Children's Council and started recording a podcast series: "Children Have a Voice – And Words Have Power". The project is aimed at parents who spend at least 20 minutes in the car with their children, and we show how adults (experts) present health-related topics in conversations directly with children.

Children Have a Voice – And Words Have Power (Automated subtitles available)

The community is exactly what we developed in the project, and the community holds the first place in our path. Without people, our work yields no results, because after all, we undertake these actions for them. A truly important and unforgettable training and activity was the meeting with Charlelie Jourdan – he opened my eyes to which direction to go, where to focus my energy, and how to talk about the brand.

If I'm to be completely honest, participating in this program is certainly one of the most important things that has happened in the foundation. The series of trainings, workshops, project coordinator support, and openness showed us that the only limit is imagination. The continuous exchange of experiences and knowledge – observing how other organisations outside of Poland operate – has been invaluable.

The Milestones: progress with purpose

Thanks to our participation in the Social Tides project, we activated 10 vending machines in 5 primary schools. During events, conferences, and activities in schools and kindergartens, we reached over 5,000 recipients (teachers, children, parents, guardians, etc.). We created a systemic education project for preschool institutions, which we have already presented in the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. Additionally, our organisation was noticed by representatives of the Polish State. We joined the stop-otylosci.pl partnership. Furthermore, we organised the first conference in Poland where children were participants, had a voice and a space for constructive conversation with experts.

Conference: “Children Have a Voice! Do You Have the Courage to Hear It?” (Automated subtitles available)

We can definitely say that our expert position has changed – we are being noticed by municipal self-governments and central units in Poland. We are finishing work on our website. We are very strongly building a team based on competencies and superpowers. We act boldly with the team; we are not afraid to take risks in our activities because we know that the topic of health promotion is very important for the future of our children.

We are very keen for health promotion and health education projects in Poland to be centralised. Today, we are ready to prepare such a project to gain the approval of the Ministry of Health and seek funding. I dream of a transparent exchange of experiences operating between organisations in Poland, but also with other countries. The foundation should be based on good practices built on a simple scheme. For the foundation, individuals, organisations, or companies working for children's health and promoting good habits are not competition – they should be partners. There is no room here for who is better or worse – we have the same goal.

Additionally, we want to pilot a program with a vending machine in schools and a recyclemaker machine so that children learn entrepreneurship, and we want every child in school to have access to nutritious and affordable products, and for educational activities to be consistent across every educational institution.

You can also follow us on Instagram @polskie_dzieci and LinkedIn Fundacja Polskiedzieci.org. If you are interested in volunteering with us, contact us through www.polskiedzieci.org or email us at projekty@polskiedzieci.org.