Stef Smits is a senior programme officer and Co-director of IRC's Growth Hub. He has 20 years of professional experience in water supply and sanitation in over 25 countries in Europe, Latin America, Southern Africa, and South Asia. His main thematic expertise includes: institutional models for water supply, sustainability and enabling environment, monitoring, costing and financing of services and integrated water resources management.
Stef has led numerous projects on these topics, and published about them. In addition, he has ample management expertise: from consultancy assignments to multi-annual programmes, and units within an organisation. He has worked for a range of clients including bilateral donors, development banks, research funders and NGOs. Stef holds an MSc degree in Irrigation and Water Engineering from Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
This document describes how the principles and practice of the global movement, Agenda for Change (A4C), can be applied at district level, following... Read more...
Addressing the financing challenges that result from the adoption of the water Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Read more...
Presentation based on the findings from two World Bank publications. Read more...
Countries should place greater priority on leveraging commercial finance into the sector while at the same time bolstering public funds. Read more...
This guide shows leaders and development practitioners how to navigate this complexity and manage their initiatives/organisations successfully... Read more...
The results of the water and sanitation SDG baseline report are as surprising as finding safely managed drinking water in rural Honduras. But we should be cautious in jumping to conclusions Read more...
Data drawn from the Water Point Data Exchange on 11 countries, reveals that an average of 78% of water points (including handpumps, piped supplies... Read more...
Marcala municipality in Honduras is spending a decent amount on WASH, though not yet enough. Read more...
Based on 20 detailed successful case studies from across India, this book outlines future rural water supply approaches for all lower-income... Read more...
This paper briefly describes the state of the evidence on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in schools, the remaining knowledge gaps, and potential... Read more...
This tool provides guidance on a systematic approach to experimenting with innovative solutions to water problems. Read more...
This paper presents findings on water and sanitation service levels from 16 small and medium towns in four regions of Ethiopia. Read more...
Spreading the cost of faecal waste removal over a series of monthly payments could make it more affordable for poor households and help kick start... Read more...
Podcast featuring Patrick Moriarty and Stef Smits, who discuss taking on a systems approach in the WASH sector – including real-life examples from... Read more...
Top-down efforts are ineffective for connecting low-income urban populations to centralised water, sanitation or electricity services. Bottom up,... Read more...
Joint Sector Reviews are social and technical. They emphasise learning, strengthen reporting, adapt over time, encourage open discussion, and publish... Read more...
We cannot do it alone. Reflections from the 7th Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN) Forum. Read more...