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.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have the target of reaching universal access to water and sanitation by 2030. But can this target realistically be achieved in the most difficult of settings: fragile states? Read more...
Ultimate success in water service delivery is defined by the service level received by households. There can be excellent infrastructure and impeccable administration, but if households don't receive enough water of good enough quality without spending an excessive amount of time collecting it,... Read more...
An introduction to ten building blocks to support sustainable service delivery. Read more...
Para Todos, Por Siempre (Everyone, Forever) is an initiative to promote universal access to sustainable water and sanitation services in some 28 municipalities in Honduras. IRC is one of the partners in this initiative. Read more...
Water For People adopted an approach of Everyone, Forever. This video presents the perspectives of the local stakeholders involved in that approach in the municipality of Chinda, Honduras. It is based on a study that IRC did of Water For People's approach there.
Read more...A special issue of ' Water Alternatives' journal looks at trends in water services in rural areas. Read more...
Over the past year, there has been quite a bit of buzz in the WASH sector on the sustainability clause that DGIS seeks to include in its contacts with implementers. The pros and cons of this have been widely debated . A key component of the clauses is to have sustainability checks as a way to... Read more...
Service delivery models describe the practical implementation of water service provision as part of a service delivery approach Read more...
Anyone who works in the water sector cannot have missed the consultations and debates on the post-2015 goals for water and sanitation. Read more...
The lack of clearly delineated roles can undermine sustainable services at scale. Read more...
How long is sustainable? 5 years? 20 years? 100 years? From here to eternity? Read more...