HRCSL TEAM MEMBER

Chairperson

Commissioner Patricia Narsu Ndanema was amongst the first set of staff recruited by the Human Rights Commission Sierra Leone (HRCSL) in 2008 when the HRCSL took up effective operations in 2007. She has a joint post graduate degree in Development Planning and Management from the University of Dortmund, Germany and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi Ghana.She also has a BA degree from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. Over the years, she has had several professional training on various human rights thematics and currently pursues International Human Rights Law at Nottingham Univeristy UK.

Her eleven years hands on experience in various human rights (HR) interventions are not only limited to; human rights observation, investigations, public inquiries, community awareness raising, follow up on judicial processes, research, reporting and documentation but is also well experienced in collaborating and engaging CSOs, government officials and other partners intervening in the field of human rights. She has a vast knowledge on local, regional and international human rights instruments which are critical tools for human rights interventions. In addition, her work experiences gained in many institutions she has worked such as the African Union in Mali and Burundi, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Special Court Sierra Leone, National Ebola Response Center (Situation Room), lecturing and as a former teacher span in many other fields.

Over the years, she has distinguished herself in the field of human rights through various fields of interventions specifically on women and children's rights and access to justice for prisoners. She has also made tremendous contributions to the production of regional and international treaty body reports, notably being her sole contribution to a chapter in Sierra Leone's first country report to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

In 2013, Commissioner Ndanema left the HRCSL as Senior Human Rights Officer in the Directorate of Education, Communication and Training following her nomination by the HRCSL to be amongst the first set of African Human Rights Observers to be deployed in Mali, following requests from the African Union, the Network of National Human Rights Institution and Ecowas and was charged with the responsibility to observe, monitor, document, engage appropriate authorities on human rights violations and report to the African Union and other partners intervening in the field of human rights. In 2015 she was recruited as a consultant by the African Union to perform similar tasks in Burundi and was the Gender Team Lead for the African Union Human Rights Observation Mission where she stayed till her appointment as the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone.

She is a Board member of the Independent Police Complaints Board (IPCB), the Assistant Rapporteur for the Network of National Human Rights Institutions (NNHRI) and also member of many women's groups promoting the rights of women and children.

Commissioner Patricia Narsu Ndanema is the oversight for the Directorates of Administration and Finance, Programming and Gender and Children's Affairs.

She brings to the HRCSL wealth of experience from the various countries she has worked.