Test Drive | Page 52

Chapter  2:  Concept  note   Stage  4:  Ways  Forward  is  concerned  with  identifying  the  most  appropriate  means  of  implementing  solutions   and  promoting  favourable  institutional  and  policy  settings.  The  aim  is  twofold.  Firstly,  an  assessment  is  made   of   how   solutions   with   a   high   degree   of   ‘fit’   with   existing   institutional   relations   might   best   be   taken   forward.   This  might  be  in  terms  of  the  allocation  of  resources,  the  formation  of  partnerships  with  organisations  or  the   introduction  of  particular  technologies,  etc.  Secondly,  suggestions  are  made  as  to  how  those  solutions  with  a   low  degree  of  ‘fit’  could  be  advanced  by  means  of  adaptation  or  reform  to  institutional  arrangements  at  one  or   more  of  the  relevant  domains.  The  objective  here  is  to  explore  opportunities  for  generating  more  favourable   institutional  contexts  for  a  particularly  desirable  solution  so  that  it  is  not  sidelined  as  being  unrealistic  under   current  circumstances.         Figure  2.4:  The  key  steps  and  outcomes  in  the  IRS  analytical  framework   Key  questions  that  can  be  addressed  in  each  stage,  are  the  following:     Stage  1:  Water  storylines   Problems  and  solutions  form  stakeholder’s  perspectives   – What  stories  do  actors  tell  about  problems  and  their  (possible)  resolution  in  water  management?   – How   are   problems   defined?   What   are   the   perceived   causes   of   problems   and   what   kind   of   changes   and   (financial,   technological,   human)   resources   are   mentioned   as   necessary   to   making   improvements?   – Which   actors   are   affected   by   problems,   who   is   held   responsible   for   them   and   who   is   regarded   as   able  to  resolve  them  (i.e.,  who  are  the  stakeholders)?   – Which  problems/solutions  are  most  frequently  mentioned?   – What  coalitions  of  actors  are  presented  or,  less  directly,  are  discernible  in  storylines?   – Where  are  the  points  of  consensus  or  conflict  within  and  between  different  storylines?     Stage  2:  Domains  of  water  problems/  solutions   Forms  and  domains  of  water  politics   – In  which  political/spatial/scalar/temporal  domain(s)  are  problems  and  solutions  located?   – What  stakes  do  actors  have  in  these  problems/solutions?   – Who  has  power  according  to  these  storylines?   – Who   is   portrayed   as   being   responsible   for   problems?   Who   is   seen   as   affected   by   them?   And   who   appears  to  have  the  power  to  resolve  them?     The Political Economy in Yemen of Water Management: Conflict Analysis and Recommendations  39  of  241