In 2004 SEEDA agreed to fund the Channel Corridor Partnership as one if nine new Area Investment Framework (AIF) programmes. This meant that the Partnership had funding to investment locally during the financial years, 2004 to 2008. Each year the Partnership prepared an Annual Performance Plan which laid out that year’s objectives, the Partnership's funding priorities and the progress that had been made towards its high level objectives. The Annual Performance Plan was critical to unlocking SEEDA's funding each year as it formed the basis of their annual contract.

To assist with this planning and to develop a consist approach to funding, In 2005 the Partnership was the first AIF to introduce a system of commissioning. Launched in November 2005, our Investment Priorities document set out our objectives when funding a project, namely that they should be catalytic and investment driven.

By the end of March 2008, all of our funds had been committed and our Effectiveness Audit, undertaken independently by East Kent Audit Partnership has proven that our commissioning approach has been successful.