"Participatory Impact Monitoring is a concept for guiding self-help projects in development co-operation. The actors involved carry out the monitoring themselves. Because PIM assumes that these actors are autonomous, it has several strands or "strings" - the monitoring systems of the self-help groups and the organisations are separate. The strings are periodically compared: the actors reflect on their observations and assessments, adapt their planning accordingly and deepen their dialogue with one another." (Gate 4/98)