People and Culture Manager - Dikan

Dikan exists to educate Africa through its own stories and to build permanent African knowledge institutions that will outlive their founders, funders, and generations.

The People & Culture Manager exists to protect this mission through people.

This role ensures that as Dikan grows in scale, complexity, and visibility:

• The mission remains central to how people are hired, developed, managed, and held accountable
• Culture is not diluted by growth, convenience, or personality
• Care for people strengthens—not weakens—standards and institutional discipline

This is a mission hire.

The role requires deep alignment with Dikan’s purpose, values, and long-term vision of institutional permanence.

Role Summary

The People & Culture Manager is responsible for building, stewarding, and protecting the human systems of the Dikan Group—ensuring that people, culture, performance, and values grow together in service of the mission. This role goes beyond traditional HR administration.

It is a strategic institutional role focused on:

• Translating mission into daily people practices
• Building a disciplined, humane, and high-performance culture
• Designing people systems that serve the institution, not individuals
• Ensuring fairness, clarity, accountability, and growth across the organisation

The People & Culture Manager is the custodian of Dikan’s culture, the architect of its people systems, and the first line of care and accountability for staff across all Dikan entities.

Key Responsibilities

1. Mission-Aligned People Strategy & Organisational Design

• Develop and implement a Group-wide People & Culture strategy rooted in Dikan’s mission and long-term institutional vision
• Design organisational structures, reporting lines, and role clarity that support accountability and sustainability
• Support leadership in workforce planning, succession planning, and role evolution
• Ensure people systems reinforce institutional continuity—not founder dependency or short-term fixes

2. Culture Stewardship & Values in Practice

• Translate Dikan’s mission and values into everyday behaviours, policies, and expectations
• Actively steward organisational culture across teams, departments, and leadership
• Identify and address cultural drift, misalignment, or harmful practices early and firmly
• Uphold a culture of preparation, professionalism, respect, and responsibility

This role is a culture guardian, not a bystander.

3. Mission-Driven Recruitment, Onboarding & Development

• Lead recruitment across the Group with a strong emphasis on values alignment, not just technical skill
• Ensure every hire understands Dikan’s mission, responsibilities, and standards from day one
• Design and oversee structured onboarding that grounds staff in institutional ethics and working culture
• Support managers in coaching, feedback, and people development
• Build growth pathways for staff, fellows, interns, and managers committed to the mission

4. Performance, Accountability & Standards

• Design and manage a clear performance management framework aligned with institutional goals
• Support managers to hold teams accountable—firmly, fairly, and consistently
• Address underperformance early, constructively, and without avoidance
• Lead disciplinary processes when required, protecting both people and the institution

5. Policies, Compliance & Institutional Protection

• Develop and enforce HR policies aligned with Ghanaian labour law and international best practice
• Ensure compliance across contracts, benefits, leave, safety, and employment standards
• Serve as the first point of escalation for grievances, conflicts, and ethical concerns
• Protect Dikan legally, ethically, and reputationally through strong people governance

6. Duty of Care & Sustainable Work

• Ensure systems exist for staff welfare, mental health, and sustainable work practices
• Balance compassion with institutional responsibility—care without chaos
• Support staff and leadership during periods of change, growth, or pressure
• Build trust through fairness, discretion, and consistency

7. Leadership Advisory Role

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the Founder, Directors, and Managers on people and culture matters
• Support leadership maturity, management discipline, and internal communication
• Help leaders distinguish between people problems, systems problems, and leadership problems

Who This Role Is For

This role is for someone who:

• Believes institutions matter
• Understands that mission must be protected through systems
• Is comfortable holding standards in creative and values-driven environments
• Sees HR as stewardship, not administration

Required Experience & Qualities

Experience

• 10–15+ years progressive experience in HR, People & Culture, or Organisational Development
• Experience in mission-driven organisations, NGOs, cultural or educational institutions
• Proven ability to build people systems from the ground up
• Experience handling sensitive people issues with maturity and discretion
• Experience working in growing or multi-entity organisations

Core Competencies

• Strong judgment and emotional intelligence
• Deep knowledge of Ghanaian labour law
• Ability to balance empathy with firmness
• Clear, confident communicator across all levels
• Systems-oriented with strong attention to detail

Personal Attributes

• Values-driven and principled
• Calm, grounded, and trustworthy
• Willing to have difficult conversations in service of the mission
• Respects creativity but insists on structure
• Understands that institutions outlive individuals

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