Children who grow up in poverty are at risk of growing up poor and passing poverty on to their own children. Action to improve the quality and accessibility of education, healthcare and social protection programmes and to prevent nutritional problems would drastically reduce these poverty cycles. To be truly effective and sustainable, investment in these areas must be part of integrated strategies that boost poor families' livelihoods and prioritise children as an important cohort of the population rather than a marginal group. They must also go hand in hand with concerted action to promote accountability, reduce inequality and address discrimination and aid which supports, rather than undermines, these changes.