Most forests in Tanzania have been managed under state ownership regime but have been faced with enormous pressure leading to degradation. Joint Forest Management (JFM) was introduced in 1998 aiming at improving conditions of forest reserves and livelihood of the adjacent communities, one of which being the Handeni Hill Forest Reserve in north eastern Tanzania. Data were collected in 2001 and 2004 on forest inventory and socio-economic attributes of the adjacent communities. Comparisons were done to determine significant changes on forest conditions and livelihood. The study showed a non-significant positive impact on basal area (m 2 /ha), and volume (m 3 /ha), but had no impact on improving farming productivity. There were positive trends on reduced wood energy consumption, increased tree planting and promotion of non wood forest products (NWFPs). The realized benefit stream has positively influenced villagers on acceptance and participation in JFM related activities. It is concluded that a period of 3 years was not long enough to show a significant impact on the forest conditions and livelihood. It is recommended that more efforts are needed to strengthen JFM and more long term studies are needed to monitor the performance of JFM.