Co-director | Growth Hub
Volg
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 reduced funding for market systems development (MSD) in sanitation, Water For People (WFP) has been able to grow and expand its approach. Read more...
Water and sanitation interventions should put special focus on strengthening systems of community participation as well as enabling the participation... Read more...
This guide covers steps required for engaging effectively with decision-makers; increasing the impact beyond programmatic solutions; and influencing... Read more...
Affordable hygiene solutions for households that can be made with locally available materials Read more...
A fact sheet on Indian national and state level institutions in Odisha and Bihar engaging in particular with rural water supply and resources. Read more...
This paper presents the journeys that Agenda for Change members have gone through in progressively embracing systems strengthening approaches in... 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...
Sanitation criteria under the Model Healthy Village Program would best be harmonized with the Ministry of Health's Guideline for Open Defecation Free... Read more...
A comprehensive package of WASH interventions is needed that is tailored to address the local exposure landscape and enteric disease burden. Read more...
Government should take the lead in making sure WASH services are empowering; NGOs should support government in monitoring empowerment in WASH... 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...
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...
There is a gap between what organisations have formulated in their strategies and programmatic approaches regarding social inclusion and the actual... 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 guidance document sets out a methodology to help mainly middle-and lower-income countries produce water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) accounts... 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...
Policy recommendations are given for five building blocks: institutional capacity, financing, asset management, water resources management, and... Read more...
One of the myths that keeps on going around in the rural water supply sector is the one of 'full cost recovery'. As more data from rural water monitoring systems becomes available, the myth gets busted. Read more...
