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.
This paper examines methodological options for calculating a 'total service gap', a measure that would combine data on each rung of the service... Read more...
While household toilets are necessary, they alone are not sufficient for improved sanitation. Read more...
This review confirms positive impacts of sanitation on aspects of health, but evidence gaps remain. More research is needed that rigorously describes... Read more...
Minister Kaag komt in een gespreid bedje om aan de streefwaarden voor haar water en sanitatie doelstellingen te voldoen. Maar voor de lange termijn moet er een tandje bij, met name voor sanitatie. Read more...
Since not everyone can be served by sewerage systems in the near future, septage management is one of available options to achieve sanitation for all... Read more...
This paper presents findings on water and sanitation service levels from 16 small and medium towns in four regions of Ethiopia. Read more...
Spreading the cost of faecal waste removal over a series of monthly payments could make it more affordable for poor households and help kick start... Read more...
Top-down efforts are ineffective for connecting low-income urban populations to centralised water, sanitation or electricity services. Bottom up,... Read more...
Maybe there should have been a disclaimer on the SDGs. Read more...
Sharing a sanitation facility with just one to two other households can increase the risk of moderate-to-severe diarrhea (MSD) in young children,... Read more...
In the context of urban Haiti, household container-based sanitation services (CBS) systems have the potential to satisfy many residents' desire for... Read more...
The costs of a pilot small-scale container-based sanitation service (CBS) were higher than those of large-scale waterborne sewerage, but economies of... Read more...
BRAC WASH has researched how to develop a viable process for faecal sludge-based organic fertiliser. Read more...
A photo story about the construction of five community latrines by the HYSAWA Fund in Bangladesh. Read more...
Whilst poor design or siting of latrines or hygiene related facilities are not the root cause of violence, these issues can contribute to increased... Read more...
This brief summarises recent data on budget allocations to sanitation in four African municipalities. Read more...
Providing solutions for the safe and commercially viable collection and composting of faecal sludge for use in agriculture and horticulture in... Read more...
Case study on rapid assessment to identify supply chain challenges. Read more...
Emerging lessons from the use of building blocks for sustainable un-sewered urban sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa. Read more...