Drawing upon institution, power, and network concepts, this article analyzes how different actors interact with institutions in institutional change processes at niche level. The analysis builds on action research which developed and reflected upon the Farmer Research and Extension Network – an innovative, demand-driven approach to agricultural extension in Vietnam’s north-western uplands. The action-researcher identified commune extension workers as strategic actors in the system and, consequently, supported them in exploiting and widening their existing room for maneuver. Throughout the research process, new rules and roles were developed with local stakeholders and carefully introduced into the local extension system. Thereby, the action research process helped institutionalizing demand-oriented approaches to public service delivery, in a manner firmly rooted in everyday action and politics. The findings reveal the critical contribution at niche level that commune extension workers can make to on-going institutional change in a late socialist polity.