In this seminar, Frances Cleaver will address the pressing question of how the management of water for agriculture and rural livelihoods can be transformed in the interests of social and ecological sustainability. Research shows that water users and farmers creatively adapt local institutions and technologies through processes of DIY – piecing together arrangements that work in context. Studies inspired by a DIY focus provide rich illustrations of the social embeddedness of such arrangements, their hybrid nature and the ongoing processes of their reproduction and reinvention. However, this work is limited in its explanatory power because (1) The institutional, technological and ideational elements of DIY are rarely considered together; (2) Few studies link micro processes of DIY to long term change across systems/societies, and (3) Policy makers struggle to use studies of localized complexity to inform their work. Drawing on work on water governance and on rural livelihoods undertaken with colleagues on in a variety of eastern and northern African countries, Frances Cleaver will address these gaps. She will show how using an integrated DIY analysis can explain long-term change.