The two main issues with international attempts to increase resilience in the Sahel are that those who ought to be helping frequently don’t work in the “resilience” field and don’t speak its language, and the analysis of resilience doesn’t make a meaningful connection between it and poverty and food security. Collaboration across a wide range of disciplines, including economics, agriculture, health, and social protection, is necessary to build true resilience. It is difficult for policymakers to coordinate their efforts in the absence of a common language. The “resilience-speak” that is now in use is overly limited, impeding collaboration and fails to take into account local conditions. Resilience investments are frequently separated from actual humanitarian activity, despite their goal of lowering future humanitarian needs. Only when employed to complement larger, people-focused initiatives rather than directing them from a disjointed bubble can the frameworks themselves prove to be useful instruments.