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With more and more opportunities to promote broad based participation in development, there is increased recognition that monitoring and evaluation should also be participatory. This paper presents a literature review of experiences in participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) from around the world, used in differing contexts and involving all kinds of stakeholders-NGOs, donors, research institutions, government, people s organisations, and communities. It introduces the key principles of PM&E, its applications for differing purposes, and a number of tools and methods used, including participatory learning methodologies as well as more conventional approaches. Finally, it raises key issues and broad challenges emerging from the literature, and outlines potential areas for future research.