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This dissertation focuses on the relationship between children’s height, child development and school attendance in Zambia, and the impact of cash transfer programs on social support in Ghana and Malawi. For the analyses I use data from a seven-year panel, and from two longitudinal mixed-methods program impact evaluations. The first chapter compares height with a broader measure of school readiness focused on skills and ability. I estimate effects of past height-for-age and past school readiness on school attendance using a fixed effects-instrumental variable estimator. Both variables contribute to attendance when estimated separately. When included simultaneously, readiness has an independent positive effect on attendance, while height is insignificant. This suggests that early-life interventions moving beyond growth and addressing child development more holistically can affect future human capital. The second and third chapter are mixed-methods analyses examining whether the introduction of a cash transfer program ‘crowds-out’ social support from family, friends and neighbors. In Ghana, difference-in-differences estimates show that the perception of social support increased due to the cash transfer. Beneficiary women confirmed these findings in qualitative interviews sharing experiences of increased ability to obtain soft loans and to enter savings groups, and participation in social gatherings for which contributions or appropriate attire were required. In Malawi, I focus on both stress and social support, to understand whether access to the cash transfer and social support mitigates poverty-related stress. Difference-in-differences estimators indicate that the cash transfer decreased stress but did not affect financial social support from persons outside the household. Interviews with beneficiaries provided further insight. The cash transfer helped to reduce food insecurity and stress around children’s needs, but due to its limited size caregivers still needed additional support when the cash transfer ran out. For both programs there is no evidence for crowding-out of social support, which would have resulted in a dilution of program impact due to a reduction in social support. In other words, the cash transfer programs in Ghana and Malawi complemented existing sources of social support and contributed to the overall positive evidence of the impact of cash transfers on household well-being.