Problemshed or watershed ? Participatory modeling towards IWRM in North Ghana Dare, W. /Venot, Jean-Philippe Le Page, C. Aduna, A. water resources companion modeling role-playing game agent-based model Sub-Saharan Africa This paper is a reflexive analysis of a three-year participatory water research project conducted in the Upper East Region (UER) of Ghana, whose explicit objective was to initiate a multi-level dialogue to support the national Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) policy framework. The transdisciplinary team adopted the Companion Modeling approach (ComMod), using role-playing games and a computerized agent-based model to support the identification of a problemshed centered on issues of river bank cultivation, erosion, and flooding, and initiate a multi-level dialogue on ways that this problemshed could be tackled. On the basis of this experience, we identify three key criteria for transdisciplinary research to support innovative water governance: (1) the iterative adaptation of tools and facilitation techniques based on feedback from participants; (2) a common understanding of the objectives pursued and the approach used among researchers, who need to explicit their posture, and crucially; (3) the co-identification of a problemshed that diverse stakeholders are interested in tackling. Finally, we argue that the context in which research is funded and conducted in the development sector constitutes a challenge for researchers to be participants like any other in the projects they coordinate, which constitutes a barrier to true transdisciplinarity. 2018 text https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010073709 fdi:010073709 Dare W., Venot Jean-Philippe, Le Page C., Aduna A.. Problemshed or watershed ? Participatory modeling towards IWRM in North Ghana. 2018, 10 (6), art. 721 [23 p.] EN AFRIQUE SUBSAHARIENNE GHANA