Balancing Immediate Relief and Resilience: Centring Local Voices for Disaster Aid and Capacity Building in Climate‐Conflict Vulnerable Communities

Climate change exacerbates fragility and security risks; however, the intersectional vulnerabilities arising from climate and conflict in fragile regions remain insufficiently studied, particularly from local perspectives. While development practices have increasingly shifted towards capacity‐building approaches, traditional aid distribution is often criticised for fostering dependency and lacking transparency. These critiques usually stem from country‐level studies that inadequately capture locally grounded realities. This article investigates the lived experiences of compounding climate and conflict shocks in the Bangsamoro region of southern Philippines through interviews and focus groups. The findings corroborate existing literature, indicating that extreme weather events and violence disrupt agricultural livelihoods, precipitate displacement and exacerbate food insecurity. Semi‐permanently displaced residents rely heavily on immediate relief, locally referred to as ayuda, as a coping mechanism; however, locally designed, long‐term capacity‐building initiatives frequently struggle to secure adequate funding. Perspectives on balancing ayuda with long‐term capacity development suggest a potential for complementarity between these approaches. Proposed resilience strategies emphasise strengthening local governance, enhancing infrastructure, promoting climate‐smart agriculture and fostering inclusive planning. However, gaps in state support hinder progress. By foregrounding the perspectives of marginalised communities affected by climate and conflict, this article offers nuanced insights into addressing compound fragilities often overlooked by top‐down policy discourses. Centring local voices illuminates the grounded realities necessary for a more balanced theoretical discourse regarding ayuda versus capacity building in climate‐fragile, post‐conflict regions, advocating for participatory, tailored and synergistic methodologies to strengthen climate resilience, food security and peacebuilding efforts.