Institutional bricolage as a new perspective to analyse institutions of communal irrigation: Implications towards meeting the water needs of the poor communities

There is a lack of a clear understanding of the concept of institutions for communal resource management such as irrigation. Using two case studies from Oromia and Tigray National Regional States in Ethiopia and comparing different theoretical approaches, this article aims to analyse the institutional aspects of communal irrigation through the concept of institutional bricolage. In doing so the article seeks to explain the underlying factors for institutional inertia, sub optimal outcomes and dysfunctionality in the cases considered. Following Cleaver, the findings build on the argument that analysis of the social context within which institutional arrangements are embedded is as important as the architecture of institutions themselves. I argue that communal irrigation needs to consider the importance of power relations and processes of negotiation in the definition and enforcement of rules and regulations which in turn require understanding how people’s agency and constraints enable them to engage with informal and formal institutions. Development interventions which recognise the importance of the processes of institutional bricolage have great potential of success and enhance sustainable use of natural resources.