About Dikan
Dikan is a nonprofit African knowledge and learning institution based in Ghana. Our name means “take the lead” in Twi. We believe Africa’s future should draw on the depth of its knowledge and the imagination of its people.
Our mission
To preserve and advance African knowledge and equip people to shape Africa’s future.
Our vision
An Africa where people can draw deeply on its knowledge, contribute ideas of their own and shape the future together.
How our work connects
01
Preserve African knowledge
Care for the sources that carry African histories, ideas and experiences. Conservation, digitisation and the preservation of context help sustain their use across generations.
02
Advance African knowledge
Support inquiry, interpretation and new work. Create opportunities for people to engage with sources, develop understanding and contribute knowledge that others can examine and build on.
03
Equip people
Connect knowledge with learning and practical opportunities. Help people develop the understanding and skills to pursue their own work and contribute to their communities.
These commitments reinforce one another. Preserved sources support learning and investigation. What people discover and create can become knowledge that serves others.
Our values
Care
Knowledge carries people’s work, experiences and memories. We treat it with the attention and respect it deserves.
Our commitment: Care for materials entrusted to us, preserve their context and recognise the people and communities whose lives they represent.
Curiosity
Questions open the way to discovery. We value the willingness to investigate, reconsider and learn something unexpected.
Our commitment: Encourage exploration of original sources, thoughtful questioning and the patient development of ideas.
Integrity
People should be able to trust how knowledge is gathered, interpreted and shared.
Our commitment: Credit sources and contributors, distinguish evidence from interpretation, acknowledge uncertainty and correct mistakes.
Access
More people should have the opportunity to encounter, understand and contribute to African knowledge.
Our commitment: Work to reduce barriers to collections and learning opportunities, explain our resources clearly and welcome people with different backgrounds and levels of experience.
African agency
Africans should play an active role in interpreting their histories, developing knowledge and shaping how their lives are represented.
Our commitment: Support people to pursue their own questions and share work in their own voices. Recognise the knowledge and expertise of the communities involved in our work.
Shared learning
Knowledge grows through the exchange of ideas, experiences and perspectives. Everyone has something to learn and something to contribute.
Our commitment: Learn with the people and institutions we work alongside, encourage exchange across generations and disciplines, and share discoveries so others can build on them.
Our beginnings
It began with books.
Dikan began with books gathered for a library in Ghana. Making knowledge available to others remains central to its work.
Today, that purpose extends through conservation, library and archive resources, education and exhibitions.
Our community
Our community includes learners, researchers, educators, creative practitioners and people exploring a subject for the first time.
We want people to feel comfortable asking questions, sharing what they know and learning alongside someone whose experience differs from their own. The knowledge held by the people and communities we work with deserves recognition. Their perspectives should help shape the work we do together.
Partnership and support
Support for Dikan helps care for historical materials and supports study and learning. It can strengthen conservation and digitisation, library and archive resources, education programmes, and exhibitions at Ahenfie.
We welcome partners who can contribute expertise, resources or funding to this work.