<P>The involvement of all stakeholders in the design, implementation and evaluation of assessment models ensures that the methodologies and tools that are developed will meaningfully contribute to sustainable development. But stakeholder involvement in these processes requires a suitable collaborative process structure, strong facilitation and capacity building at various levels. </P><P>This special issue explores the theories and frameworks for stakeholder participation in integrated assessment of sustainable agriculture. Employing a range of project experiences, it aims at creating a solid theoretical and empirical basis for how stakeholders can be involved in the use and development of impact assessment tools, as well as what can be expected from this involvement. It shows the necessary adaptations and improvements modeling approaches have to include if they aim at supporting a stakeholder driven assessment process. </P>