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.
Stef Smits' in-depth review of the JMP 2021 data on the progress made in 15 countries and discussing the implications towards 2030. 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...
The Multi-country synthesis report brings together the insights from the 13 Triple-S country studies to identify trends in rural water supply,... Read more...
A case study on the experience of developing and implementing water, sanitation and hygiene finance strategies. Read more...
This is snapshot shows how nature-based solutions can be cost-effective alternatives to conventional infrastructure. Read more...
Utilities are not a silver bullet. But as professional, system-oriented organisations, they can be powerful drivers of change — if the right capacities, incentives and enabling conditions are in place. Read more...
This report identifies a set of transition pathways reflecting how systems evolve from basic access to meeting safely managed criteria. These... Read more...
This document presents the developments in the water sector of Colombia over the past decades. Read more...
Meet our colleagues at UNC Water and Health Conference Read more...
This study confirms the high relevance of payment modalities that reduce the barrier of the upfront payment to get access to a water supply service... Read more...
Por qué y dónde se deben hacer cambios en el sector de agua potable? Resumen del libro 'Apoyo al Abastecimiento de Agua Rural'. Read more...