At the moment in southern Africa, management information systems for tracking and adaptively managing various aspects of community development and resource management are emerging as a very powerful tool. These information systems have widespread implications for empowering local communities, and for improving the effectiveness and sustainability of management. Moreover, where these tools provide regular and transparent information they also provide the conditions for the emergence of local innovation and evolution, ranging from wildlife management to governance. These tools were first developed for monitoring natural resource management. Greg Stuart-Hill with Richard Diggle, Bevan Munali, Jo Tagg and David Ward describes how participatory monitoring was developed. Keywords: CBNRM, conservation, policy, poverty, marketing, tourism, quota setting, revenue distribution, monitoring, mapping, theatre, finance, training.