Making Healthy Foods Desirable

Every culture has foods that carry meaning far beyond nutrition. In Rwanda, milk has long symbolised prosperity and celebration. Eggs, on the other hand, were something to sell, not something many families thought to feed their youngchildren.

So how do you change the meaning of a food?

We travel to Rwanda to explore the "One Egg per Child, Every Day" campaign, and the broader First Foods Africa initiative. Along the way, we discover why nutrition isn't just about what's available or what people know. It's about identity, emotion, social norms, and even marketing.

Featuring Rowena Merritt (UNICEF), Bhai Shelley (UNICEF Rwanda), and Alice Mwizerwa (Heza Initiative), this episode explores how social marketing techniques normally used to sell junk food were repurposed to make healthy foods desirable; how communities built their own poultry businesses to overcome local barriers; and why lasting behaviour change means creating demand that can outlive donor funding.

It's a story about far more than eggs. It's about what happens when healthy food becomes something people genuinely want - and how changing the meaning of a single food can help change children's futures.

Episode speakers:

• Rowena Merritt - Social and Behaviour Change Specialist - Nutrition at UNICEF
• Bhai Shelly - Former Social & Behaviour Change Chief, UNICEF Rwanda 
• Alice Mwizerwa – Head of Heza Initiative

Resources:

• First Foods Africa (UNICEF, Sept 2025).
• One Egg per Child, Every Day (Rwanda, 2022–23)

The views and opinions expressed by the contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of UNICEF or any entities they represent. The content here is for information purposes only.

The ABCs of SBC is hosted by Qali Id and produced and developed by UNICEF in partnership with Common Thread.

Check out UNICEF’s latest publication on Social and Behaviour Change, Hidden in Plain Sight, a celebration of the everyday heroes on the frontlines of public health outbreaks, or the first publication, Why don’t you just behave!For more information about UNICEF SBC, check out the programme guidance.

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