Mobilizing cookstoves for development: A dual adoption framework analysis of collaborative technology innovations in Western India

Abstract

Domestic cook stoves in rural India have long been targeted by development programs dedicated to solving a diverse range of problems from deforestation and indoor air pollution to global warming and rural market inefficiencies. Theories on how technologies are mobilized in these design and diffusion innovation projects and what this presages for development outcomes can be improved by explicitly detailing the composition and structure of program governance frameworks. I develop a 'dual adoption analytic framework' to interrogate two technology innovation programs in Western India. This framework underscores the collaborative nature of technology mobilizations and, more specifically, how power is distributed across partnerships at different stages of the development process. Local partners are shown to function as influential mediating agents operating between extrinsic agencies and targeted village groups. They reinforce funding agency planning commitments while also activating economic contingencies and generating alternative development pathways. I also reveal how the structure of technology innovation projectsöas either administratively heavy handed or committed to free market principles-influences intermediary behavior, intrapartnership structures of control and, ultimately, development outcomes for targeted artisan communities and households. © 2010 Pion Ltd and its Licensors.