The Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme has been nominated by the South African offices of USAID, for the 2007 Conrad N Hilton humanitarian award – which at $1.5 million is the world’s largest award of this nature.

Spokesperson for TVEP, Ms Shula Mafokoane, said that the TVEP team is deeply honoured by this recognition of their efforts by their long-time partners, USAID. "Just to have been nominated is such a boost to the morale of our staff and volunteers, who have had a particularly rough year in terms of job security and whose efforts rarely receive public recognition," said Mafokoane. "Although we shall of course dream about winning, we realise that we are a small organisation, serving just one municipality in Limpopo. Previous winners have included huge international bodies such as the SOS Children’s Villages and Doctors without Borders, who reach thousands more people than we ever can. But to have even been nominated alongside such wonderful organisations is simply overwhelming."