Enabling Within Constraints: Assessing International Aid's Impact Upon Cypriot Peacebuilding Organisations

Indigenous civil society organisations (CSOs) are receiving a larger proportion of international aid than ever before. The international community supplies them with financial support owing to the belief that they can effectively mediate between disputant communities. The impact of this situation attracts scholarly debate. Whereas scholars traditionally assert that recipients transform into service-delivery organisations tied to the interests of their donors, some allege that CSOs retain the agency to negotiate how funds are spent in accordance with their own priorities. By focusing on Cypriot peacebuilding CSOs, I add further nuance to this debate. I argue that international aid enables CSOs to carry out peacebuilding initiatives according to their underlying agenda, owing to several contextual factors, providing they adhere to donors’ expectations and restrictions. International aid cannot therefore be reduced to having a solely positive or negative impact – a more complex picture emerges, to some degree suiting both donors and CSOs.