The chairperson, four commissioners and several administrative staff are paid for by the government, while the remaining employees are paid for by a three year grant from UNDP. The first chair, Dr. Sesay acknowledged the lack of research and documentation by the NCDHR, and blamed the lack of funding and the subsequent lack of manpower for the inability of the NCDHR to be more of an advocacy organization. She noted that although the mandate expanded when the commission went from the NCD to the current NCDHR, she received no additional staff members or governmental funding. Indeed the contribution from government is very low; for both l996 and l997 the NCDHR received a total of U.S.$30,000. In l998 it received a mere U.S.$6,300. And as of September l999, had received only U.S.$6,200 for the year. While the war has proven devastating to the economy and the government's ability to fund, the lack of commitment by the government to this issue must also be questioned.

Without sufficient government funds to run the commission, the NCDHR relies heavily on outside funding, such as the U.S.$1.6 million UNDP grant for `Awareness Raising.' Other grants include funding from the governments of the U.K. to buy a landrover, the U.S. for workshops on democracy, and Canada for the textbook project. The Commonwealth Secretariat also funded a National Conference for the Empowerment of Women.

With such a large percentage of the NCDHR's budget coming from UNDP, it is imperative that UNDP consult closely with the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and others on the best way to strengthen the NCDHR. To date this has unfortunately not been done to the extent which it should have. In the future it is recommended that the linkage between different U.N. agencies be strengthened to take advantage of relevant expertise on human rights issues, particular in countries such as Sierra Leone where several U.N. agencies are operational.