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.
A briefing note on the use of cellular and satellite connected sensors for near-time monitoring of rural water services in Ethiopia. Read more...
The holidays are over, so the Weekly WASH Graphs are back. This week, I will give you a sneak preview of the way we measure the strength of the WASH system at IRC. Read more...
This briefing paper is linked to a study on country-level accountability mechanisms in 25 countries for the implementation of Sustainable Development... Read more...
This report reviews the global progress made towards achieving SDG 6. It builds on the latest data available for the 11 SDG 6 global indicators. Read more...
If we want to leave no one behind, we not only need to know who is left behind, but also how far behind they are. Read more...
As the World Cup soccer gets on its way, it is time to make predictions and projections who might win the SDG 6 World Cup by 2030. Read more...
Neither rural sustainability checks, nor urban benchmarking frameworks, are entirely suitable for monitoring small town water services. Read more...
Many countries are developing or reviewing their water sector monitoring systems to see whether they are SDG-proof. A recurring question in this is the extent to which these should use household-level data of JMP-defined access to limited, basic or safely managed water. We argue that caution should... Read more...
This brief presents the lessons learnt and advocacy messages from this e-discussion for influencing sector discourse on this topic and ensuring that... Read more...
Water-related emotional distress is predominantly associated with the 'cost of water' and the 'size of household'. Read more...
The motto of the Sustainable Development Goals is "leaving no one behind". For water and sanitation this implies that all people – including those families who live in the last house on top of the mountain - must have access to water and sanitation services. Water For People and IRC in Honduras... Read more...
Presentation based on the findings from two World Bank publications. 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...
Marcala municipality in Honduras is spending a decent amount on WASH, though not yet enough. 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...