Each CVS is governed by a Board of Directors elected from member organisations. CVSs are well-established organisations –those in the South of Scotland were set up between the early 1970s and the 1990s. They are part of a network of 62 CVSs across Scotland.

The South of Scotland Network of Councils of Voluntary Service (SoSNet) project brings together the eight CVSs and two umbrella organisations (Dumfries and Galloway Federation of Councils of Voluntary Service (DGFCVS) and Borders Forum of Councils for Voluntary Service (BFCVS)) which operate across Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders with the principal aim of meeting the three objectives described on the Home page of this website.

The first, three year, phase of the project was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (Objective 2), commencing in September 2001 and finishing at the end of September 2004.

The second phase of the project, part funded from the same source commenced on 1 October 2004 and is scheduled to run till December 2006.

In line with the Scottish Executive’s social justice agenda SoSNet was designed to make an additional, direct contribution to community economic regeneration, social inclusion and environmental sustainability.

The project outcomes were designed to meet ERDF eligibility criteria, while also taking into account outcomes set out in the national standards framework agreed with the Voluntary Issues Unit (VIU) of the Scottish Executive. Grant funding from the VIU provided financial match for the project.

The ERDF grant provided 10.78 new full-time-equivalent members of staff - an additional development worker based in each CVS plus administrative support, a monitoring officer and two additional strategic development workers, one based in SCVS with responsibility for developing the communications strategy and infrastructure and another based in CBAVS with a development remit for the Borders.

ERDF funding for Tweeddale Association of Voluntary Organisations (TAVO) ceased at the end of June 2003, due to their Transitional Area status. However, due to the success of TAVO’s activities in Walkerburn and Innerleithen, they have continued to contribute to Objective 2 by directly supporting partnership working within the Community Regeneration Initiative funded by Priority 3 Measure 2 for this targeted area. TAVO was also awarded a Lloyds TSB grant of £26,000 over three years to fund a part-time Development Worker for this area.