Planning sewerage systems with stakeholders by integrating expert technical knowledge: challenges of modeling and transfer of WasteWAG in Senegal

Abstract

WasteWAG is a role-play and participatory planning tool for individual and collective sewerage systems in urban and rural areas in Senegal. It has been modeled collectively by Irstea engineers and stakeholders involved on the ground (like NGOs, neighborhood committees and technicians) based on the Wat A Game method and more broadly on the principles of modeling support. Apart from being the result of a shared representation of the reality of sewerage systems in Senegal, the particularity of WasteWAG lies in its modeling process oriented on: (1) the training of stakeholders involved on the ground (future facilitators of the tool) in a transfer perspective, (2) the integration of expert technical knowledge on sanitation processes in the tool, (3) the multifunctionality of WasteWAG (awareness, planning, simulation). The objective of the article is to give an account of the singularity of this modeling approach contributing to make technical knowledge available to the stakeholders involved on the ground.