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.
National public development banks are underused and that they have the potential to raise finance for achieving both the SDG 6 and the water-related... Read more...
Between 2017 and 2019, the District-Wide Approach for water and sanitation services was piloted in five districts in Rwanda. This Agenda for Change... Read more...
The recent JMP report shows how India is accelerating the rate of reducing open defecation, due to the efforts of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The question is whether there are other countries that are seeing such acceleration. Is there another India out there? Read more...
Access to safe water will remain a dream for the people of Rwangara Parish in Kanara Sub County, Ntoroko District unless a lasting solution is found... Read more...
This is the first of my 'weekly WASH graphs', exploring the relation between the wealth of a country over time, and its level of access to at least basic water services. Read more...
The SMART market-based approach is contributing to SDG 6 and beyond. Its impact is significant, but localised. Read more...
This paper presents IRC Ghana's experience of acting as a 'hub' to support collective action in the Asutifi North District of Ghana. Read more...
Multi-stakeholder engagement is critical for making progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 'Ensure access to water and sanitation for... Read more...
Recommandations pour les actionnaires des BPDs: les gouvernements des États. Read more...
Recommendations for the shareholders of national PDBs: states and governments. Read more...
Annual report presenting the work of IRC in Mali Read more...
Dans le cadre de la décentralisation, la commune de Torodi a pour mission dans le domaine de l'AEPA la création et la gestion des infrastructures... Read more...
District WASH master plan of Makalondi, Niger Read more...
The status of WASH at national and municipal levels and how IRC and a coalition of partners are working together with Government to inspire and... Read more...
A call for commitment, transformative thinking, engagement, integration and disaggregated data production. Read more...
This paper examines methodological options for calculating a 'total service gap', a measure that would combine data on each rung of the service... Read more...
"I am bored with this work", my friend, WASH, confided. I recommended him not to waste his mid-life crisis. Read more...