Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) . The VEP programme required review in terms of provisions and resourcing as the public hearings revealed that the programme did not serve the needs of victims it is intended for. . Neither the Victims' Charter nor the Minimum Standards define secondary victimisation. This was problematic as many victims of domestic violence were subjected to secondary victimisation by government officials. It was imperative that this was done so that government departments had an understanding of secondary victimisation and in so doing, were in a position to prevent re-victimisation through appropriate institutional responses. . Re-assess funding criteria for VEP grants to civil society organisations. Grants should be made available to shelters given that they provide a critical service to victims of domestic violence. . Victim Empowerment Legislation: There was a need to expedite the promulgation of appropriate legislation which was developed in close consultation with civil society. . Greater public awareness was required in terms of the rights of victims of domestic violence and the Domestic Violence Act itself. To this end, government must allocate sufficient resources to undertake such an awareness campaign. . Greater synergy was required between the VEP, the Victims' Charter, the Minimum Standards for Service Delivery and the Uniform Protocol on Victim Management to ensure services were better co-ordinated. This in turn will avoid the duplication of services and the more efficient use of resources. . The management of lay counsellors at Thuthuzela centres has not been working effectively across the country on account of the poor supervision, lack of accountability and often ill-equipped counsellors. A proposal for the establishment of Victim Advocates should be considered, whereby the role is merely to assist the victim throughout the administrative process within justice and police sector to health and social development. Hence, the counselling of victims should be left to appropriately trained professionals that are equipped to deal with domestic violence.