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.
Despite the high level of exposure to the COVID-19 virus among HCWs in the treatment centers, only 14.0% were at high risk of COVID-19 virus... Read more...
Affordable hygiene solutions for households that can be made with locally available materials Read more...
Meet our colleagues at UNC Water and Health Conference Read more...
The water sector in South Africa should focus more on the needs of HIV positive individuals and strengthen multi-sectoral initiatives. Read more...
Écoutez ce podcast (3 minutes) avec Simon Louver sur la promotion de l'hygiène. Read more...
Indicators for hand hygiene monitoring in households, schools and health care centres, for policy makers, implementors and citizens. Read more...
Recommendations for hand hygiene in public places and institutions; hand hygiene in the local governance process; hand hygiene promotion strategy;... Read more...
Policy recommendations for the Indian union government and ministries for water, health, education, women and child development, and local government. Read more...
Policy recommendations for the Indian state government of Odisha and its departments for drinking water and local government, health, education, and... 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...
The assessment reveals that there is an urgent need for hygiene awareness and behaviour change communication initiatives in Ganjam district. Read more...
In the wake of Hurricane Eta, IRC and Water For People support government appeal and call for immediate action to restore a decade's worth of water and sanitation development in Honduras Read more...
An approach is developed to assess WASH risks in marginal populations that are poorly understood and served through conventional approaches. Read more...
Interventions that ensure women have access to private facilities with water for Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) and that educate women about... 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...
Handwashing after contact with excreta is poorly practised globally, despite the likely positive health benefits. Read more...
WASH for WORMS is a cluster-randomised controlled trial to test the hypothesis that a community-based WASH intervention integrated with periodic mass... Read more...
Whilst poor design or siting of latrines or hygiene related facilities are not the root cause of violence, these issues can contribute to increased... Read more...
While the importance of hygiene is increasingly being recognized, far less consideration has been given to the role of the complete WASH package in... Read more...
This paper explores spaces where urgent environmental health imperatives intersect with deeply entrenched cultural norms surrounding human waste and... Read more...