Social protection, and in particular social cash transfers, is increasingly envisaged as a tool for addressing poverty and inequality in Africa. Some of these proliferating schemes target individuals or households on the basis of their extreme poverty; others target groups that are deemed vulnerable because, for instance, they are elderly (and unable to work) or young (and need investment in their futures). I draw on a research project that has focused on three schemes in two countries: cash grants to ultra-poor labour-constrained households in Malawi and old age pensions and child grants in Lesotho. In contrast to most studies that explore the direct effects on those targeted by the grants, this research has examined the less direct impacts of social cash transfer schemes on relationships between people of all ages. The research, based on interviews and participatory activities with young adults, and interviews with people of diverse ages in grant-recipient households, investigated the complex ways in which cash transfers are reshaping relationships within households and communities. In this paper, I discuss two key changes in relationships: a reconfiguration of households, notably toward more nuclear structures, and a transformation of moral duties within the community into economic transactions.