A Participatory Planning Process as an Arena for Facilitating Institutional Bricolage: Example from the Rwenzori Region, Uganda

Abstract

One solution considered by researchers and policymakers to address environmental degradation is to explore change within environmental institutions. Three main approaches exist looking at how institutions change in response to social–environmental issues: institutional design, institutional fit, and institutional bricolage. While all three approaches are relevant, they face challenges when it comes to actually supporting the institutional change process. This article advances the idea that rather than trying to craft blueprint institutions through interventions, such interventions could act as “institutional corridors” to create favorable conditions for “institutional bricolage” to occur. A participatory planning process in the Rwenzori region in Uganda is used as an example. There, five strategies were used for the process to act as an institutional corridor. They were facilitated by four procedural elements and constrained by two external factors. The article concludes by providing concrete ideas about how practitioners can experiment with intervention designs to facilitate institutional bricolage.