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 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...
Last week, a number of Agenda for Change members that are working on WASH systems strengthening in countries in Latin America came together for a learning and sharing event. A key point of discussion in that event was the importance of political leadership at local level, but also the systemic... Read more...
This week's Weekly WASH Graph presents an infographic and a graph, the combination of which reflects what we think should be the core content of WASH investment plans. Read more...
For less than US$12 per person per year a town in Honduras can ensure that everyone's water supply keeps working. Read more...
The King's speech marks the opening of the Dutch parliamentary year. This year he drew attention to the important position of the Netherlands in the international water sector. The budgets that were presented alongside the speech also reflect this, notably with a 6% increase for the budget for WASH... Read more...
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...
Mr Belwal is a community facilitator with the Himalaya Institute Hospital Trust, an NGO that, amongst others, develops water supply systems in the Uttarakhand Himalayas, through a programme supported by Himmothan Society. His main responsibility is ensuring that villages that have been "phased out... Read more...
Sangeeta Ramola is the former Pradhan (president) of the Gawana Gram Panchayat (local government), in the State of Uttarakhand, India. Her work and effort shows the importance of local political leaders in achieving access to rural water supply that lasts. Read more...
Two years ago, I posted a blog summarizing discussions on whether insuring rural water supply systems is a good idea. But these remained largely theoretical discussions, as there are few examples of such insurances put in place. During field work for the Community Water Plus project in the State of... Read more...
The COMAS – Municipal Water and Sanitation Committee – of the municipality of El Negrito (in the Department of Yoro, Honduras), is strongly committed to providing universal water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to its citizens. But it needs a plan to get there. And it needs to make a plan... 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...
Saraswati Halder, the president of the Durganagar Kanchantala water committee, shows me the committee's bank booklet. It shows only one transaction: 100 Rupees (about 1.50 US$) deposited in 2011, more than 3 years ago. Read more...
One of the nicest water-related customs in Honduras is the breaking of the pot. When a village gets connected to a water system, part of the inauguration ceremony consists of an old woman from the village symbolically throwing a clay water-pot on the ground, so that it breaks. She will never need... Read more...
Uttam Majundar is a successful Jalabandu (handpump mechanic) in Digambarpur (West Bengal, India). But now he risks becoming a victim of his own success. Following a day in his life explains why. Read more...
If you want to take on the real water bucket challenge, donate to government! Read more...
Next week, the Dutch parliament will discuss the multi-annual collaboration plans for its bilateral development cooperation with some 15 partner countries. This could be a pretty dull and technical affair, were it not for the fact that these plans give an interesting insight into what the end of... Read more...
We were here to find out what the water committee does about water supplies, but only a local government official was around to explain it all. Read more...
Territorial approaches to rural water supply were a hot topic at this week's Triple-S annual meeting. Read more...
How should WASH-related targets make it into the United Nation's post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals? Read more...
It would be easy, and wrong, to say that global conferences rarely deliver results, for sometimes they offer brand new ways of seeing things. Read more...