ABSTRACT
Ruth Merttens describes how the IMPACT Project started and gives a personal account of the changes in practices and assumptions which she charted in her field notes kept throughout the first four years of IMPACT. IMPACT in situ is illustrated with reference to detailed case notes. The theoretical framework within which her descriptions are embedded is outlined. She then goes on to discuss the ‘knots’ or ‘points of conflict’ in the weave of IMPACT which, for her, problematize some of the more commonly held assumptions about the purpose and effectiveness of IMPACT.
