Growing up in poverty affects children’s skills development. In Episode 3, Kath Ford and Sarah Lane Smith discuss what policies and programmes can make a real difference to children’s future opportunities. Early life circumstances are important in later outcomes. Young Lives latest longitudinal analysis shows that poverty and exposure to early climate shocks impacts skills in later childhood – but these effects are not inevitable, and support from social protection and school feeding programmes can make a real difference. Kath Ford and Sarah Lane Smith discuss what this means for policy, arguing for an holistic, intersectoral approach to provide an enabling environment to support equitable skills development and education outcomes.