This paper examines the challenges and proposes an approach for monitoring and evaluating participatory research for community-based natural resource management projects1. The paper is intended to outline some of the key issues and constraints facing participatory research, and to provide guidance to researchers, programme and project managers interested in monitoring and evaluating participatory research projects. The focus is on using monitoring and evaluation as a tool for adaptive learning and project improvement, for integrating social theory into participatory methods, and for understanding the links between participatory processes and outcomes. The importance of using participatory monitoring and evaluation methods for bringing in the perspectives of local people whose lives are being influenced by the research is also explored