Dare W. auteur aut IRD Venot Jean-Philippe auteur aut IRD Le Page C. auteur aut IRD Aduna A. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access 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. specialized water resources companion modeling role-playing game agent-based model Sub-Saharan Africa AFRIQUE SUBSAHARIENNE GHANA 062 122 098 106 10 6 art. 721 [23 p.] 2018 2073-4441 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010073709 10.3390/w10060721 2073-4441 [F B010073709] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010073709 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers18-09/010073709.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2018-09-12 2023-07-11 fdi:010073709 fre