Water as one of the most important requirement of life has become one of the main issues in sustainable development discussions for there is an urgent need for an appropriate water resources management. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) has been proposed in different forums and discussions as a process to achieve a sustainable water resources management. IWRM involves the integration of several aspects including institutional aspects. Gunungkidul, a regency in Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia, which has faced water scarcity problems for years, is one area of an IWRM project implementation. The condition of Gunungkidul governmental institutions with respect to their role in water management has not been clear. Recognizing that it is important to know their role and performance in order to support any integrated water resources management project and in order to plan such an integrated management which is suitable to the specific local conditions, this study was done to give a first picture of the condition of water institutions in Gunungkidul in terms of their role and performance. Interviews, documents and regulation analyses, as well as direct observations were done to collect data and information about water-related institutions in Gunungkidul. Several indicators were selected as guidance in analyzing the performance of the selected institutions. The analysis of performance was directed into two concepts of institutional requirement in IWRM; coordination between all parties involved and interested in the water sector, and human and institutional capacity building. The performance of water institutions in Gunungkidul is still lacking in many aspects concerning the two IWRM institutional requirements. Water sector is still managed under other affairs framework. There is no single board or institution directly responsible for this sector. This causes overlapping and uncovered tasks by governmental institutions which results in inefficient coordination between them. Institutional independency as an important aspect of institutional capacity building is very low. Regulations and procedures of decision making in these institutions depend on national government thereby allowing political interference in many aspects of their decision making processes. Poor financial condition is both driven by and drives to dependency. Limited access to information does not support institutional capacity building.

Kata Kunci : Local goverment,Institution performance,IWRM