Richard Gaeta
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning in Complex Development Contexts
Dr. F. Richard Gaeta is a seasoned specialist in monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), with more than four decades of experience supporting global development programs across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Pacific Islands. He has worked in 32 countries across 14 sectors, serving as both a consultant and senior advisor in long-term field assignments and short-term technical roles.
Dr. Gaeta has provided MEL leadership to agencies such as USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of State, the Inter-American Development Bank, and IICA-OAS. His expertise spans the full MEL cycle: developing and reviewing M&E plans, selecting performance indicators, setting baselines and targets, designing and overseeing evaluations (impact, outcome, and process), and conducting data quality assessments.
He is particularly skilled in designing and implementing third-party monitoring systems in high-conflict environments, facilitating learning and adaptation processes, and ensuring that MEL systems are compliant with donor and host-country policies. He has contributed to building institutional capacity through training in collaborative learning and adaptive management, supporting improved data use and decision-making across diverse implementation settings.
Dr. Gaeta has held both top secret and secret security clearances in his roles at the Millennium Challenge Corporation and USAID/Egypt. He holds a Ph.D. in Econometrics, an M.A. in International Affairs with a focus on Latin America, and a B.A. in Economics. Fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, he brings deep technical rigor, multilingual communication skills, and extensive global perspective to the design and evaluation of development interventions.
Areas of Expertise
Design and oversight of MEL systems
Performance monitoring frameworks and indicator tracking
Impact, outcome, and process evaluation methods
Data quality assessments and verification systems
Adaptive management and collaborative learning
Evaluation design and proposal development
Anonymization of sensitive data and documentation protocols
Third-party monitoring in high-risk/conflict settings
Institutional capacity building and technical training
MEL policy compliance and strategic oversight
Languages
English (native)
Spanish (fluent)
Portuguese (fluent)
Geographic Experience
Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay
Africa: Cabo Verde, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda
Middle East & Asia: Egypt, Iraq, Mongolia, Philippines
Europe & Eurasia: Armenia, Georgia
Pacific: Vanuatu
North America: United States