Innovation is increasingly recognised as an alternative for poverty alleviation in developing countries. However, cases of innovation in small producers' clusters in Vietnam imply negative externalities that conflict with today's notions of sustainable and inclusive development. This article analyses how small producers innovate while taking environmental and social considerations into account through an interactive societal process towards a community network, conceptualised as responsible innovation. Existing multifaceted theoretical insights do not provide sufficient basis to construct and test explanations. We apply a grounded theory involving Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to seek explanations as to why some small producers behave opportunistically while others acknowledge responsibility for the negative externalities. ANT enables us to see the critical details of the network creation process, including the agenda of the key actors, push and pull factors, the type of innovation, and the informal institutional context. L'innovation est de plus en plus reconnue comme une alternative pour le soulagement de la pauvreté dans les pays en développement. Cependant, des cas d'innovation chez des petits groupes de producteurs au Vietnam ont eu des externalités négatives qui sont en conflit avec les notions contemporaines de développement inclusif et durable. Cet article analyse comment des petits producteurs ont réussi à innover tout en tenant en compte facteurs sociales et environnementales, à travers un procès sociale interactif qui les a amené à construire un réseau communautaire -ce qu'on conceptualise comme de la innovation responsable. Les aperçus multidisciplinaires courants n'offrent assez de bases pour construire et tester des explications. Nous avons donc applique Actor-Network Theory (La Théorie de l'Acteur -Réseau; ANT) pour expliquer pourquoi des petits producteurs agissent de forme opportuniste, pendant que d'autres prennent responsabilité pour les externalités négatives. L'ANT nous permet de voir les détails critiques de la création du réseau, y inclus l'agenda des acteurs principales, les facteurs qui font avancer et ceux qui trainent, le type d'innovation, et le contexte institutionnel informel.

the Vietnamese Women's Union (VWU), in collaboration with the Dutch development organization, ProFound, implemented the pilot project 'Training of Trainers to Promote Women's Small-scale Aquaculture Enterprises in Rural Areas of Northern Vietnam.' The pilot project provided knowledge and experience to poor rural women on small-scale aquaculture enterprise management through training, and collected data on integrated fish farming, training needs and methodologies through on-farm research. The focus of the project was on the aquaculture component in the typical Vietnamese integrated farming system, VAC (vuong/ ao/chuong = garden/pond/animal husbandry). The immediate target group of this pilot project consisted of poor women in rural areas in two northern provinces of Vietnam. In general, the training teams observed that through their contribution to food security and income generation, women were allowed to take more decisions in the management of VAC aquaculture as a result of their acquired knowledge. According to the rural women, their husbands encouraged them to take more decisions in aquaculture management and this strengthened their position in the family.

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