Institutional design principles for accountability in large irrigation systems

Its basic hypothesis is that single irrigation systems managed by autonomous system-specific organizations accountable to their customers perform better and are more sustainable than systems managed by agencies dependent on the government (organizationally and financially), or by agencies responsible for many different systems. To establish the plausibility of the basic hypothesis, the report discusses five interrelated hypotheses on the institutional determinants of performance. These are as follows: Hypothesis 1: Fully autonomous organizations accountable to their customers and managing single irrigation systems will exhibit the highest performance, will prove most adaptive to changing conditions, and therefore will prove to be most sustainable. Hypothesis 2: Dependent agencies managing single systems will exhibit mixed but generally low performance; adaptability to changing environments will be poor, and therefore sustainability will be problematic. Hypothesis 3: Autonomous agencies managing many systems may try to be innovative and customer-oriented, but dispersal of attention among a multiplicity of systems will limit accountability for particular systems (except those politically favored), and therefore will limit their performance; sustainability and adaptability will vary, but will generally be lower than that of fully autonomous organizations managing single irrigation systems. Hypothesis 4: Agencies that are only partially autonomous (i.e., organizationally or financially but not both) will have only limited accountability to the users. This will limit their performance, adaptability, and sustainability, which will be closer to dependent agencies managing many systems than to fully autonomous organizations managing single irrigation systems. Hypothesis 5: Dependent agencies managing many systems will exhibit a wide range of performance levels, but with a preponderance of low levels, and low (though variable) adaptability and sustainability. The report concludes with a brief discussion of the methodologies for further research and makes recommendations for policymakers. Includes references.