Guidelines for Improved Institutional Analysis in Water Resources Planning

Institutional factors are often among the most formidable obstacles to the development and implementation of feasible water resource programs. Guidelines for gathering and analyzing information on institutional factors as part of water resource planning and evaluation activities are presented. In approaching the analysis of current institutional arrangements, analysts should pay particular attention to (1) the actors and their stakes in the decision-making process; (2) the political and decision making resources actors have available to pursue their interests and (3) the biases of the alternative decision-making structures through which various water resource decisions are made. While institutional analysis can pinpoint important barriers and constraints to plan implementation, it is of most use when it goes beyond a description and analysis of current institutional arrangements to assess possible strategies and solutions that can be applied to the problems identified.