Abstract This article assesses the interactions between participation in Malawi’s largest public works programme, the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF), and three widely promoted climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices. Drawing on three waves of national panel household survey data, we find that participation in MASAF significantly increases the probability that farm households adopt the resource intensive CSA practices of building soil water conservation structures and applying organic fertilizers. Moreover, participation in MASAF contributes to a sustained adoption of these practices over multiple agricultural seasons. We empirically demonstrate that the standalone impact of the CSA practices on maize productivity and the value of crops harvested under normal and dry conditions is, in most cases, not significantly different from zero. However, we find a reduction in sensitivity to low precipitation when MASAF participation occurs in the previous agricultural season. Moreover, the joint treatment effect of MASAF participation with sustained adoption of soil water conservation structures substantially increases households’ productivity and welfare. This synergistic benefit is likely driven by the transfer of skills learned during MASAF public works to farmers’ own fields. Results suggest that the CSA agenda can be enhanced by explicitly integrating existing social protection interventions with the promotion of CSA practices.