This special edition of Participatory Learning and Action is a collation of lessons and innovative tools that have been developed by the facilitators of community-based natural resource management programmes in southern Africa and is also an important resource for facilitators in other regions. These tools have been broadly divided into two categories: facilitators tools and management tools. Tools in the former category range from Theatre for Africa's role in policy development to the CAMPFIRE Game for improving training in financial management. The managment tools have been developed to allow communities to manage wildlife in modern market economies. Examples of these tools range from the event book system developed in Namibia to the quota setting methodologies developed in Zimbabwe.