Assessing Water Governance Gaps with a Four-Layer Governance Model and OECD Principles

In this study, water governance in four layers including the contextual layer, institutional layer, relational layer, and performance layer was evaluated using the 12 principles of the Organization of Economic Cooperation in East Azerbaijan Province of Iran. This manuscript has used descriptive cross-sectional research to analyze of water governance gaps. Data were collected using the method of interviewing 36 key experts and farmers and studying documents, including 26 laws, 20 bylaws, 4 canons, and other documents published in the country's water sector. The results of the study showed that there are large gaps in the implementation of laws, policies, and guidelines, especially the achievement of macro goals and accountability and trust in the region. These gaps are mainly in line with Principles 7, 9, and Principle 2. Important obstacles to the implementation of laws and policies are as follows: the short period of management of individuals, low financial and administrative capacity of government departments, monopolization of policy-making by authorities, and as a result lack of role and participation of local stakeholders in the policy-making process, lack of legitimacy of policies at the local level, contradictory laws and contradictory actions of the government and the legislature at various times have led to a loss of trust in the legislature and the government. Therefore, some problems at the local level are tied to problems at the national level, and these problems can be generalized to other provinces, it is necessary to study and evaluate water governance at the national level.