Lincoln University makes an annual award to an alumni who has “made a significant contribution to agriculture development outside NZ”.

The 2021 recipient of the Lincoln Alumni International Medal was Tony Ryan. Tony boarded at St Bede’s College from 1961-65. He later attended Lincoln University, completing the Diploma Valuation and Farm Management and the Bachelor of Agricultural Commerce.

After an early career in agriculture, Tony pursued a career in international rural development. With his wife Jude and young family, he undertook 2-year assignments for the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the highlands of PNG, followed by 2 years in the Cook Islands. He has since completed 103 assignments in 21 countries as a self-employed consultant, working for development agencies including Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and International Fund for Agricultural Development and has built a solid reputation on Indonesian, Cambodian and Pacific rural development issues. He worked on projects in Kiribati (at 2 m above sea level) to Kyrgyzstan (up to 3,500m above sea level).

Tony demonstrated considerable flexibility and versatility required to work on content as varied as natural resource management, small and medium enterprise development, micro-finance, project management, project performance analysis, and rural infrastructure development.

Tony has complemented his professional career with pro-bono work. In 2005 he initiated a Trust to help remove poverty from rural livestock-based communities in mountainous areas in Kyrgyzstan where poverty was around 70%. Funds raised in New Zealand were leveraged through partnerships with UNDP which over 12 years resulted in effective poverty outcomes for 1000 families across 14 villages.

In addition, in 2007, Tony jointly founded a Trust to engage in the development of rural outer island villages of Tonga (SBC Old Boy Fred Seville’s wife Ainise was also a co-founder). Beginning with $100,000 and 3 staff, today the Mordi Tonga Trust has a $14 million programme and 33 staff. Tony continues to serve as a trustee.

Tony says the Christian values he learned at St. Bede’s influenced his approach to development work. He always clearly saw the poor family as the centre of any effective project design. SBC taught me that despite being poor, everyone of whatever colour or creed is entitled to respect and that personal relationships are the keys to success in these challenging environments. However, of course not everything goes as planned. Issues such as natural disasters, low capacity and politics can be frustrating.

Looking back, I would not have swapped my career for the world! It’s been a blast.