Today civil society organizations are actively engaged in every conceivable sector and phase of the conflict management and development realm. Through advocacy, activism, research, and lobbying, and with the support of international donor agencies, non-governmental civic groups have contributed immensely to our understanding of the patterns and dynamics of conflicts, and to providing the mechanisms and tools for preventing, transforming and resolving some of the world's most intractable conflicts. Using the case of Sierra Leone, an aid-dependent West African country recovering from an 11-year debilitating civil war (1991-2002), this work presents the results of a research that examined the impact of donor policies on 50 local civil society organizations. The work explores the challenges and potential of a people-centered civil society-donor engagement and its wide ranging implications for the country’s search for durable peace.