In promoting local or adaptive research or in encouraging the adoption of modern technologies, care must be taken not to undermine useful traditional knowledge. Local technologies often require fewer material resources than imported technologies, allowing them to weather the vicissitudes of local shortages and material constraints. The oral rehydration solutions used to combat diarrhea provide an example. In some countries, aggressive promotions of subsidized, ready-made industrial packets undercut the use of long-known home remedies. When the subsidies ended and health education efforts stopped, the rate of use fell. But households that might have then reverted to traditional home remedies did not, because confidence in them had been undermined by the promotion of the commercial remedy. To avoid such an outcome in Nepal, oral rehydration programs preserved local knowledge by encouraging the use of homemade simple solutions alongside the modern packet solution.

Efforts to harness local knowledge, or to reconcile it with new technologies, require the involvement of those who possess it. And for the knowledge generated by local adaptive research to be relevant and broadly adopted requires full participation of end users and local communities in design and implementation. As scientists at the Institut des Sciences Agronomiques in Rwanda and at the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical in Colombia learnt, local women farmers have very valuable knowledge. The two or three varieties of beans considered by the scientists to have the most potential had achieved only modest increases in yields. They then invited the women farmers to examine more than 20 bean varieties at the research stations and to take home and grow the two or three they thought most promising. They planted the new varieties using their own methods of experimentation. Their selections outperformed those of the scientists by 60 to 90 percent.

It is also important to take into account local constraints and the availability of complementary inputs. Example: the "Rondereza" charcoal stove was introduced in urban Rwanda in 1987, where high charcoal prices had created demand for more fuel-efficient stoves. Patterned on a popular Kenyan model, the Rondereza proved unpopular in early trials. What had worked in Kenya obviously did not work in Rwanda. The stove was then tested more extensively in 500 households and subsequently modified in terms of its size, valuation, quality, color, door design, and portability, in line with suggestions from householders and stovemakers. Private entrepreneurs undertook (without subsidies) the production, distribution, and retailing of the stoves. This made the stove program oriented to consumers from the start. Government assistance, managed by a team of mostly Rwandan women, took the form of publicity campaigns, market surveys, training programs for stovemakers, and limited initial assistance for modernizing stovemaking equipment. The program's participatory, market-driven approach was quickly validated. Three years after its inception, 25 percent of urban households had the stove, which by then was widely available in market outlets and department stores. More than 90 percent of users surveyed indicated they would buy the stove again, citing not just its fuel economy but its cleanliness, long life, and ease of use. And the fuel savings achieved were on the order of 35 percent.

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