Institutional factors in natural resource management in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 238

that if resource users do not have any other sources of income, they will not be able to
invest financially in the resource and this can affect collective actions. On the other hand,
Gopalakrishnan (2005) stressed that trust is determined by people's belief about others due
to their various experiences.

Institutional arrangements

Institutional arrangements in the IAD framework have been categorized into eight
categories. However, for this research, only those institutional arrangements, which were
relevant for the study, were used. These institutional arrangements represented existing
informal institutional factors in the study areas. Table 10.4 illustrates institutional
arrangements from IAD framework. These institutional arrangements are developed from
Ostrom's (1990) design principles.

10.7 Justification of Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework

The main objective of this research is to describe institutional factors and their impact
on the use of communal rangelands. The IAD analysis framework facilitates in describing
institutional factors and their performance. The framework also helps the researcher to
understand the socio-political structures and processes that govern the decision-making
environment. Thus, IAD analysis consists of contextual factors, which consist of the user

Table 10.4. The institutional arrangements for the IAD framework (Ostrom, 1990, cited by Nilsson, 2001).

Institutional arrangements Definition

Clearly defined boundaries Individuals or households that have rights to withdraw resource units from
the CRP must be clearly defined, as must the boundaries of the CRP itself
Collective-choice arrangements Most individuals affected by operational rules can participate in modifying
the operational rules
Monitoring Monitors who actively audit CRP conditions and appropriator behaviour are
accountable to appropriators or are appropriators
Graduated sanctions Appropriators who violate operational rules are likely to assessed graduated
sanctions (depending on the seriousness and context of the offense) by other
appropriators, by officials accountable to these appropriators or both
Conflict resolution mechanisms Appropriators and their officials have rapid access to low cost local arenas to
resolve conflicts among appropriators, between appropriators and officials
Minimal recognition of rights to organize The rights of appropriators to device their own institutions are not
challenged by external governmental authorities