Department of Development Studies
The Ateneo Development Field School (ADFS) is a transformative 5-week, 6-unit combining academic study with immersive fieldwork, focusing on sustainable development, social justice, and empowerment in the Philippine context through a mix of classroom and immersive Service-Learning and Community Engagement experiences.
The 2024 ADFS program will focus on community consultation and awareness building on natural heritage conservation involving the Samar Island Natural Park. The field school will blend environmental conservation, community organizing, and sustainable development. Through classroom lectures, fieldwork, and exercises, students will learn participatory action research and sustainable development principles, methods, and skills relevant to natural heritage conservation issues.
This year, the ADFS will collaborate with the Provincial Government of Samar, Eastern Visayas, Philippines. By the end of the course, students will be expected to have studied, co-designed, and pilot-tested a biocultural community protocol. Partners include local leaders, stakeholders, and collaborators from local universities. Students will be expected to assess the community’s needs, values, and aspirations in relation to the natural park. They are expected to design and pilot-test a protocol to consult communities whether they are amenable to the potential designation of the park as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Finally, co-designing and pilot-testing should be geared towards capacity-building among local partners.