Pinnacle Agricultural Research & Management http:/www.pjpub.org © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Research Article Institutional bricolage as a new perspective to analyse institutions of communal irrigation: Implications towards meeting the water needs of the poor communities in rural Ethiopia Tekalign Gutu¹, Sam Wong² & Wole Kinati³* ¹International Food Policy Research Institute, Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ²School of Environmental Science, University of Liverpool, UK. ³Researcher Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia. ABSTRACT Access to water supply in Ethiopia is one of the lowest in the world. In response, Ethiopia has developed a 15-year water development project for the period 2002-2016 in order to enhance appropriate and comprehensive water use policies and related institutional arrangements. The objective of this paper is to analyze the institutional aspects of communal irrigation in Ethiopia using the concepts of institutional bricolage. Based on two case studies and intensive literature review, the trust to ensure that the poor communities achieve economic efficiency, social equity in access to water and ecological sustainability simultaneously through the adoption of 'institutional crafting' does not seem to correspond with reality. It then challenges the universal application of the 'design principles' approach for its inadequacy in explaining the realities underlying the institutional formation of communal irrigation where collective action is more complex. The paper argues that the concept of institutional bricolage is an alternative approach to understand the dynamics and complexities of institutions in irrigation development. In the face of growing demands of irrigation water, there are key issues to consider through the lens of bricolage for appropriate development interventions aimed at institutional building: acknowledging the complexity of institutional building, ecological stress, historical factors, power relations, gender, access to other institutions and cultural repertoires embedded in the community. Development interventions which recognise the importance of the processes of institutional bricolage have great potential of success and enhance sustainable use of natural resources. Keywords: institutional bricolage, institutional crafting, irrigation, Ethiopia Volume 2014 (2014) Accepted 14 January, 2014 1. INTRODUCTION Access to water supply in Ethiopia is one of the lowest in the world (World Bank, 2006). According to the World Bank , in 2008, only 38% of the population have access to improved water (World Bank, 2010). In 2006 the Bank conducted a study to estimate the magnitude of the impacts of high water variability on growth and poverty. The study finds that the effects of water variability reduced projected rates of economic growth by 38% per year and increased projected poverty rates by 25% over a twelve year period. In response, Ethiopia has developed a 15-year water development project for the period 2002-2016 in order to enhance the appropriate and comprehensive water use policies and related institutional arrangements. Among the water sectors agricultural water use has got the most attention through the strategy called Agricultural Development Led Industrialization (ADLI). The intervention of the plan is to address most of the supply-demand gap within 15 years time through increasing the number of large, medium and small scale irrigation schemes in rural areas where 80 % of the population live (World Bank, 2010). In addition, the Government recognizes, community managed small-scale irrigation water schemes as viable alternative to privatization and state ownership of the resource (Water Sector Development Program of MoWR, 2003). This is expected to increase the role of local communities in resource management. Locally, there are different institutional arrangements for irrigation water management; examples include use of "water masters" and executives of water users' associations. Establishing appropriate water management institutions and strengthening capacity of water management organizations is expected to bring efficient and equitable distribution of irrigation water for beneficiaries, thus contributing to increased productivity (Ostrom, 1990; 1992; WSDP, 2003; World Bank, 2003; 2004). However, most of these resources are exploited on a first come, first-served basis which results in the inefficient utilization of the resources and inequalities Corresponding Author: Wole Kinati³* Researcher, Oromia Agricultural Research Institute, Ethiopia. Email address: wolekinati@gmail.com