Paper presentations

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[P02] A New Sustainability Paradigm

Vincent G. Caruana (University of Malta)

The paper Education, Civic Action and Cognitive Innovation for Sustainable Development highlights the role of Adult Education and Cognitive Innovation in addressing sustainable development issues. It identifies salient situations that enable participatory action as well as create barriers to the transition towards sustainability, to reimagining sustainability and to ensuring relevance to today’s complex and evolving sustainability challenges. By focusing on the role of Adult Educators for sustainable development engaged in cognitive innovation, key conditions that would sensitise and mobilise sustained civic action for sustainable development are identified. Specific attention is given to: a) context as pertaining to an ever changing glocal world, mindsets and paradigms; b) participation issues; and c) educational processes. The research methodology adopted a case study approach using multiple sources of data gathering (interviews, focus groups, observations, text analysis etc.) as permitted by practical considerations and as appropriate to the different contexts of the case studies chosen, namely an Intentional Community in Malta; a Fair Trade Network in Egypt; and two Local Agenda 21 processes: one in Modena (Italy) and one in Bethlehem (Palestine). The study evidences the power of the case studies to reframe and critically challenge the hegemonic core beliefs of how a municipality, a Church organisation and a trade organisation ought to act. The political space for participation is not a constant, but an ever-changing space negotiated through the struggles, doubts and hopes of the relevant stakeholders and conditioned by the socio-political reality of the context in which they operate. With inspiring leadership and a real commitment to a mental mode that embraces citizen mobilisation and new spaces for conversations, both Civil Society Organisations and local institutions can be a positive force towards sustainable solutions at a local level. Adult Educators and Education for Sustainable Development practitioners need to re-define their roles – in particular their mentorship role, leadership training and cognitive innovation in addressing the sustainability transition. In the face of social, environmental, cultural and economic challenges presented by an ever-changing glocal world, investing in leadership, cognitive innovation and in the enhancement of the capacity of both institutions and CSOs to be and become innovative co-creators to reimagine a new sustainability paradigm, is a challenge for multi-sector stakeholders to embrace with passion and urgency. Vincent Caruana’s mission in life is to inspire people to take action for a better self and a better world. His PhD focused on ESD, among adults, youth and community. Vince is a lecturer at the Centre for Environmental Education and Research, University of Malta. Vince’s interests include permaculture, travel, personal development, and community development.

Vincent Caruana’s mission in life is to inspire people to take action for a better self and a better world. His PhD focused on ESD, among adults, youth and community. Vince is a lecturer at the Centre for Environmental Education and Research, University of Malta. Vince’s interests include permaculture, travel, personal development, and community development.

[P03] Compelling and Impeding Forces in Utility and Futility of Research Results: Policy for Increasing Research Adoption (Under Basic Education Research Fund)

Reicon C. Condes (Department of Education, Schools Division of Quezon Province, Talipan National High School, Philippines) and Bernadette A. Condes (Department of Education, Schools Division of Quezon Province, Quezon National High School, Philippines)

This study focused on crafting a policy to enhance the number of adopted research outputs through addressing influential factors that compels and impedes utilization of researches under DepEd's Basic Education Research Agenda. Using sequential transformative mixed-method data collection and analysis involving 50 research works published in a region-wide research journal from 2014-2017 and survey-questionnaire, adopted research outputs in a particular level of governance when grouped according to researchers’ demographic profile and research themes were accounted. Through interview questions, which data were validated through four-point likert scale, influential factors in adopting research output were identified. Findings reveal that adoption of research outputs is higher for those cross-cutting studies conducted by researchers aged 31-35 years old, male, more than 5 to 10 years in service, with doctorate degree, and having supervisory position. Output adoption into a higher level of governance is quite possible for those cross-cutting studies conducted by researches aged 36-50 years old, either male or female, more than 15 to 25 years in service, having post-graduate theses degrees, and serving supervisory functions. Among the factors that compels and impedes in utilizing research outputs, promotional strategies, adoption policy, and attitude towards change are highly influential. More importantly, a policy note was crafted to address ways to increase the numbers of produced researches having outputs utilized by larger scale of target beneficiaries.

Reicon C. Condes, PhD, is a Master Teacher II in Schools Division of Quezon Senior High School Program serving as the Research Coordinator and Research Reviewer in The Quezonian Educator, the Official Research Journal of DepEd Quezon and International Journal for Language and Literary Studies. Earning the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English, he was given the Award of Excellence in Graduate Studies Research. Also, he was awarded as the Gawad Gintong Binhi Most Outstanding Researcher 2019 and Gawad Patnugot Most Outstanding Researcher Finalist 2019. His research interest includes language learning, research management, culture, and disaster-risk reduction among others.

[P04] Kwentong Klima: Philippine Climate Change Narratives in Print News Media

Marjorie N. Manlulu (Central Luzon State University, Philippines)

Despite the ample coverage of climate change in the mass media of developed countries and the increasing scholarship on climate change communication, how climate change is covered in the media of developing nations remain understudied. More recently, the study on climate change coverage took on a narrative turn. Narrative theory states that human beings make sense of the world through narratives because it provides society a logical explanation of what happens in the world. In ancient times, these narratives came in the form of mythology and folklore; in modern society, however, myths and folklore have been replaced by the news. Just as myths and folk tales explain confusing events into an understandable narrative, the news narrative creates a framework in which humans construct the meaning of seemingly unrelated events. Which brings us to the question: What kinds of narratives do Filipino journalists tell about climate change? Using Arnold's model of cultural narrative analysis, I examined 31 news stories that were published from 2013 to 2017 on three Philippine print newspapers with the highest circulation: the Manila Bulletin, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and the Philippine Star. Using close reading techniques, the stories were analyzed according to structure, content, and form. I have extracted four main narratives: (1) the narrative of international cooperation with a sub-narrative of internal struggle between climate action and national development; (2) the narrative of government "war" against climate change with three sub-categories: economic aspects, disaster preparedness, and calls for public cooperation; (3) the narrative of climate justice; and (4) the narrative of science as an answer to climate change. In each news story is a layering of the narratives which was made possible by the episodic nature of the news story. A common narrative form that the narratives took was that of the romance, a form that best calls the audience into action because of its positive spin on what can be done given a certain problem or situation. This genre focuses on giving hope that the audience may be able to solve the problem or acquire the object of struggle. Yet, the audience in the Filipino climate change narratives was missing in the conversation. Government officials dominated the narratives as main characters and the victims were the Filipinos. Only in the climate justice narrative was the audience given agency, as David facing the Goliath of big corporations who were main contributors to climate change. Thus, mainstream news media failed in providing a platform for different views to be aired, especially that of the marginalised. This study further showed the need for the principles of development journalism to be practiced in mainstream news organisations or for media organisations that advocate the tenets of development journalism to be formed. In this way, news media may be able to fulfil its duty to become a platform of diverse voices in order to solve the complex problem of climate change.

Marjorie Naguimbing-Manlulu is an Assistant Professor I at Central Luzon State University. Her research interest is environment and intercultural communication, particularly in using the arts in developing environmental empathy and international cooperation for climate change. She is currently involved in research about cradle songs in Central Luzon.

[P06] Swahili Territory, Architecture and Social Systems Echoing Ecosystems: A Systemic Pattern for the Symbiotic Mega-region

Fanjasoa Louisette Rasoloniaina (EVCAU (ENSA Paris Val de Seine) & ICT (Université de Paris), France)

Territorial Symbiosis is a Circular Economy principle, its semantic implies a large geographical unit engaged in a symbiotic relationship; its restriction to industrial/urban complex mismatches the biological concept. Same applies to the loanword ecosystem. In the quest of sustainability and resilience, the mega-region is identified as the systemic territorial figure to articulate local and global scales. Qualified as transitional apparatus, Circular Economy spreads on the local, barely reaches the regional scale. Problem Circular Economy has difficulties aligning intentions, actions and language; finding a systemic pattern allowing deployment at larger scales; and adopting the mega-region scale. These inabilities reveal a principle misstatement, it must address shortcomings and integrate systemic thought to define a comprehensive framework and the next paradigm shift it triggers. Materials: A qualitative research is conducted using inductive method based on observations, analysis, and synthesis withdrawn from the 3000-year-old Swahili Territory and community case study. This community has a strong impact on the local and global economics; a very low footprint on environment; and displays a standardized installation pattern on a territory qualified as mega-region due to its dimension and form: a 2000 km long-reticulated network along the coast and offshore of Oriental Africa. Methods The Environmental Genetic Code is an informative systemic matrix, that draws up the morphogenesis and complexity of a contextual environment, through referential, analytical and synthetical maps placed towards a timeline and different observation scales. Causal, influence and impact crossed maps highlight significant emergences and recurrences that characterise the analysed object; deciphering its environmental, historical context, but also its semantics and semiotics. Results: The Swahili system is a mirroring conformation principle of the human production based on the environmental ecosystems: the coral reef and mangrove, systematically found in the vicinity of the Swahili settlements. An ecotonal tripartite pattern, found between ecosystems and in the coral morphology, is reflected in the social strip pattern; the housing layouts, and their composite wall pattern. The mangrove species zonal distribution is reflected in the social and metier hierarchy, the housing morphologies and the construction material, all following a transect from the sea to the plain. This non-ethnic group integrates immigrants as key components, acting as commercial interfaces. The swahilisation process uses architectural and urban objects as incorporating devises, that explains their standardised form on a large-scale territory; constituting a political geography of relations in “nexus”, a linear hub connecting the local and global trading on land and sea. Conclusion: This principle coined echo-systemy promotes the biome as structural pattern for the architectural, urban and territorial scales; putting the emphasis on the emerging ecosystemic paradigm. In that vista, the territorial planification entails a transect from natural reserve to rural till urban zones. The mega-region must be more than a mobility infrastructure and competitiveness development strategy; it must consider social, economic and natural ‘biodiversities’ as constitutive parameters.

Louisette Rasoloniaina, 2nd year Phd candidate, is affiliated to two labs: EVCAU and ICT at Université de Paris. Her major is in Architecture and Digital Culture, her thesis focuses on an informative matrix to profile the symbiotic mega-region. She published a co-writing on Circular Economy and co-coordinated a congress panel in Bologna on Transurbanism and Transcalar Thought.

[P08] From Communitarianism to Communities of Practice: Promoting Just, Inclusive and Creative Sustainability Transitions?

Ana Margarida Esteves (Centre for International Studies / Department of Political Science, University Institute of Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL, Portugal)

This paper is part of a project exploring how community-led sustainability transition initiatives balance the realization of alternative livelihoods, while at the same time engaging with previously existing political, economic and cultural structures. It uses a case study approach to analyse how the following initiatives engage external practitioners and scholars, as well as the public sphere, in transdisciplinary communities of practice aimed at ecological, economic and regulatory innovation:

  • “Tamera – Healing Biotope I”, an ecovillage and self-defined “Peace Research and Education Centre” in southwestern Portugal;
  • Esperança-Cooesperança, a Solidarity Economy commercialization network in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil;
  • Cooperativa Integral Catalana, an “Open Cooperative” of producers and consumers, structured around a basket of social and crypto currencies, managed by virtual and presential assemblies of participants. Based in Catalonia, Spanish State.

Based on a system thinking approach, informed by fieldwork carrier out between 2014 and 2017, this paper compares and contrasts the processes of resource mobilization, knowledge and technology transfer, as well as the normative and political criteria informing them, underlying the construction of communities of practice in each case study. It also analyses how such processes impact, in these case studies, what scholarship perceives to be a major vulnerability of communitarian endeavours: the tendency for the emergence of internal hierarchies and exclusionary mechanisms, as well as reduced creativity due to pressures for ideological conformity, in the form of:

  • hierarchies of rank, in terms of access to “voice” in decision-making and resources;
  • the emergence of formal and informal barriers to the inclusion of new participants in the projects, or opportunities for external actors to participate in their activities, based on economic, identity-based, ideological or political criteria.

The paper concludes with thought points for future dialogue among the ecovillages, solidarity economy and virtual commons-based peer production movements on how to mobilize communities of practice for the promotion of more inclusive, socially just and creative sustainability transitions.

Ana Margarida Esteves is a Research Fellow at the Center for International Studies of the University Institute of Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL and Guest Assistant Professor of the Department of Political Economy of the same institution. She has a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brown University (Providence, RI, USA). Her research and teaching encompass the relations between the social and solidarity economy, the commons and the sustainability transition movements; synergies between nature, culture and technology; and the application of critical pedagogies, as well as strategies of non-formal education, to social mobilization and the promotion of participatory democracy.

[P09] Developing a Framework for Understanding Personal Motivations of Sustainability Leaders

Jennifer L. Horn (University of Surrey, UK)

Sustainability leadership development needs more than new knowledge and skills: it needs an underlying motivation to act, in order for the knowledge and skills to be utilised. This study explores the initial and sustaining motivations that drive leaders to pursue sustainability as a profession or vocation. Exploratory interviews were conducted with 16 sustainability leaders in the Philippines working in sectors ranging from corporate, social enterprise, NGO and academia. Findings from thematic analysis reveal significant life experiences that drive initial motivation, how feedback sustains motivation, and the importance of self-awareness and positive psychological factors in starting and sustaining their work or advocacy. A framework for understanding motivations is developed, drawing themes extracted from the interviews, Authentic Leadership theory, and Stern’s Value-Belief-Norm Theory. Recommendations are given on how motivation can be instigated and sustained by: cultivating hope and other positive psychological factors, integrating experiential learning to develop awareness, connectedness and empathy, and creating social support and enabling environments. Further research is recommended to develop an instrument to measure sustainability leadership motivation to inform sustainability education facilitators of the effectiveness of their programmes in inspiring participants to take action.


Jen Horn graduated with distinction for her MSc in Sustainable Development from the University of Surrey's Centre for Environment & Sustainability. She is an incoming lecturer on corporate sustainability at the Leadership & Strategy Department of Ateneo de Manila University's School of Management. She is also the founder of MUNI, a company that exists to build a community for mindful, sustainable living through learning and networking events.

[P10] Monitoring the Self: A Mathematical Model of Compassion Fatigue among Development Workers

Christian M. Lacza and Edlie Joshua C. Vargas (De La Salle University, Philippines)

The cost of development, especially in the Global South, does not only take its toll on the policy makers and the target communities. At the forefront of social development initiatives are social workers, educators, NGO volunteers, and other actors who are in direct exposure to factors that could harm their emotional, physical, and mental state. Matthieu (2007) provides that compassion fatigue is caused by both personal and life circumstances, and work environment. It is notable, however, that development workers would always save their clients from blame, owing to their commitment to their cause. Despite this, life and work circumstances curtail their motivation. Figley (1995) claims that development workers exposed to the stressful narratives of their clients to get more vulnerable to compassion fatigue. When left untreated, the forerunners of development who ought to alleviate others from poverty would eventually suffer from the emotional and mental consequences of their vocation. Through available literature and key informant interviews, this study aims to formulate a mathematical model that would simulate the accumulation and relief of compassion fatigue among development workers. Personal, as well as professional factors will be taken as variables in order to provide an equation that would attempt to model the concept of compassion fatigue. As such, the formulation of the equation would predict when development workers are vulnerable to compassion fatigue; thereby, allowing them to take possible courses of action to prevent its occurrence. Knowing the equation would further provide development workers with a mental framework that would help them monitor their vulnerability to compassion fatigue.

As an Integrated School Faculty at the De La Salle University, Ian is involved in the Pagtubog Project, a five-year community development initiative of the DLSU Senior High School in an Aeta Community in Batangas. At the moment, he is finishing his MSc in Development Communication at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.

[P12] Maritime Sustainability Through the Lens of Cognitive Innovation

Angelica M. Baylon and Eduardo Ma. R. Santos (Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific, Philippines)

This paper presents a case study about the good governance of the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific, a non-stock, non- profit maritime education and training (MET) institution. This paper specifically highlights best approaches on extension by MAAP thru successful partnerships and strong linkages involving various sectors hence multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral and innovative to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs are integrated in the MAAP Extension Programs based on the needs of the community and based on any of the following areas of sustainable developmental concerns namely: Socio-Welfare Development, Socio-Economic Development, Infrastructure Development and Environmental Development. These are conducted by the MAAP community members through training; technical assistance and advisory services; communication and information services; and community outreach activities, that have impact on the institution, region and national development and productivity of the society with social benefits through the accomplishments of the SDGs. This data and information were collected thru interview, survey questionnaire, readings, internet search on cognitive and sustainable development and documents cum content analysis of post-activity reports. The paper also presents how the accomplishment of SDGs have been analyzed, monitored and evaluated. The paper ends with relevant concluding remarks and recommendation specifically for the youth participation and the expedient implementation of SDGs by MAAP. This also resulted in recommending policy guidelines and criteria on MAAP awards for its members who contributed to SDGs accomplishments in terms of their individual or collective actual implementation of extension services delivery on the ground. The PowerPoint presentation would be photo-documentation proofs that shows various activities in addressing the SDGs with MAAP community as the implementing arm and thru a table that summarizes MAAP innovative ways to address sustainable development challenges through the lens of cognitive innovation.

[P13] Disaster Risk Communication and the Zero-Casualty Goal of Albay Province, Philippines

Gremil Alessandro A. Naz (Bicol University), Arvin G. Malonzo, Benito L. Salvador Jr., and Cedric D. Daep

The province of Albay in the Philippines is highly vulnerable to climatic and geologic hazards, but it has largely achieved its zero-casualty goal for the past two decades. In recognition of this achievement, the province has garnered numerous awards from international and national organizations. Past studies have identified Albay's success factors, but the role of communication has been overlooked. Thus, this research discusses the communication projects and protocols of Albay on disaster management. Data were obtained from interviews of key informants and examination of official documents. Results showed that the province's communication activities are assigned to specific persons, embedded in an early warning system, enacted using multiple media, supported by multiple stakeholders, and implemented under a strict protocol. These make Albay's disaster communication practices effective in attaining its zero-casualty goal during disasters.

Gremil Alessandro Alcazar Naz is an assistant professor at Bicol University, Philippines. He has degrees in communication from the University of the Philippines and New York University, where he was a full scholar of the Ford Foundation. His research interest is on the disaster risk communication.

[P14] Disaster Archipelago - Locating Vulnerability and Resilience in the Philippines: A book launch panel

Maria Carinnes and Pamela Cajilig (RMIT University, Australia)

Images of the devastation wreaked by typhoons, flooding, earthquakes and drought in the Philippines circulate globally as an important part of disaster discourses. Disaster Archipelago seeks to move beyond these simplistic representations of calamity by bringing together a group of Filipino and international scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to grapple with the complex nature of disaster in the Philippines. Firmly grounded in the relationship between disaster and place, the volume’s contributors confront the challenges of the Philippine nation’s internal heterogeneity of language, ethnicity and class. In doing so, this book seeks to engage the specificities of place amid diversity, and explores two broad but interrelating avenues of investigation through case studies drawn from across the archipelago: How can environmental extremity in the Philippines help us understand disasters? How can disasters help us understand the Philippines? This panel aims to showcase selected chapters of the book to provide an nuanced lens in understanding community resilience at the face of disaster. More specifically, this panel presents:

  1. Interdisciplinary approaches in studying disaster vulnerability and resilience;
  2. Localized understanding of agency and well-being in a changing socio-environmental landscape; and
  3. Policy recommendations on sustainable solutions for vulnerable communities.
Pamela Gloria Cajilig is a design anthropologist and PhD Candidate at the Humanitarian Architecture Research Bureau at RMIT University in Melbourne. She is also co-founder of Curiosity, an independent Manila-based design research firm. Her doctoral research is inspired by her humanitarian work after Typhoon Haiyan and examines the creative ecologies of citizen design in post-disaster housing reconstruction.

[P15] Benefits of Cultural Ecosystem Services

Klara Łucznik (University of Plymouth, UK)

The following talks were cancelled

[P01] End of the World? Is Escaping the Big City a Solution?

Murat S. Germen (Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey)The “old” notion of the city is directly related to the presupposition that civilization is born, preserved and sustained in the city. As we look at the pace of the type urbanization realized at various geographies in the world, especially in rapidly developing countries, it is not very difficult to observe the fact that the notion of the city is reinterpreted and we have a recent urban settlement occurrence we can name as the “new city”! This new city is designed as an area of camouflaged modern slavery. The originally autonomous farmers, satisfying their basic needs like food and accommodation, are encouraged by the states to migrate to cities leaving their skills in agriculture behind. Once they move to dreadful high-rise social housing projects in the new cities; they start to accumulate long-term debts over costs they never thought about: Education, cars, higher grocery expenses for less healthy food, monthly dues, higher taxes, higher rents, etc. Once they understand that promises issued by states are tricky, misguiding, shallow; it is unfortunately too late as they become dispossessed and have no land anymore to go back to the countryside. On the other hand, there recently is a growing reverse migration of educated, ecologically concerned people from cities to villages. The system running the big cities “offers” smart solutions for almost all of your needs. The problems that we used to fix by ourselves or with the help of others are mostly “resolved” by the administrations. The smarter the system is the lazier, clumsier and therefore dumber we get. In addition, we do not exactly know what we eat, breathe and drink in the big cities; we started to hear more cancer/allergy news in our entourage. 8 families including ours came together to join the means for a small scale farm, 1,5 hours away from the big city. We are testing a new life with different aims and climatic/ecological/physical conditions. It is yet too early to comment on whether our practice/existence in the farm will give us more independence from the grid. Yet, I can easily say time there flows differently and time is one of the most important components of our lives as we are programmed to worry about our futures and forget to seize the day! The purpose of this presentation is to share personal experiences both in the megapolis and the countryside, compare cons and pros, scrutinize on various forms of collaboration and participation, analyze the original objectives and the actual outcomes of non-urban settlement formats like eco-villages, educational villages like the Nesin Art Village in Turkey and Cosanti / Arcosanti in the US.

[P05] Unfolding Discourses on (Re)Cognizing Creativity and (Re)Construction of a Cityscape

Cecilia Fe Sta Maria-Abalos (University of the Philippines Baguio)Baguio City, with its idyllic landscape and cold climate is a home to many local and international migrants, indigenous groups, and more. A hub for visual and performing artists, writers, and scholars, Baguio City’s great mix of indigenous and evolving arts and culture makes it rightfully suited to be proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a Creative City for Crafts and Folk Art. The city is now facing the challenge of (re)constructing the space to achieve sustainable development by thinking, planning and acting creatively. In such transitions of space, Harvey (2008) says that the re-making of a city is anchored on “what kind of city we want [which] cannot be divorced from that of what kind of relationships to nature, lifestyles and aesthetic values we desire.” Drawing from key informant interviews and photographs of Baguio, this paper unfolds opposing discourses on how the concept of creativity is (re)cognized from varied socio-historical nodes. Flowing from the empirical specifics to theoretical posits, this paper deepens the discussion on the (re) construction of the cityscape to examine the ideations of sustainable development.

[P07] Songwriting-for-Sustainability as Cognitive Innovation of Invironmental-Environmental Empathy through Appreciative Inquiry

Susan Janette G. Ealdama (University of the Philippines Open University) The study was conducted to promote songwriting-for-sustainability among adolescents. Specifically, its purpose was to develop cognitive innovation of invironmental-environmental empathy. Using the transformative research methodology of Appreciative Inquiry’s 5-D model (Define, Discover, Dream, Design and Destiny), songs that promoted invironmental-environmental empathy with endemic and endangered species were produced through literature review and interviews with scientists, then were evaluated through focus group discussions with Science teachers and Grade 8 students. Songwriting, as a descriptive and an interpretive phenomenology, was juxtaposed against the common turmoil between the internal environment of adolescents’ emotional issues and the external environment of endangered species. Results showed that the students’ and teachers’ environmental awareness went beyond the initial level of the emotions. Recommendations include taking their awareness to a deeper level of personal involvement for long-term impact in biodiversity conservation. This study is a subset of a larger research on biodiversity conducted in 2016 that involved scientists, artists, web developers, and a design team. Acknowledgement: Dr. Consuelo Habito, Prof. Aurora V. Lacaste, scientists, artists, web developers, design team; and the Faculty of Management and Development Studies of the University of the Philippines Open University.

[P11] The Influence of Perceived Organizational Support on Compassion Fatigue and Compassion Satisfaction of Filipino Disaster Responders

Yra Marie L. Calamiong (University of the Philippines Diliman)Disaster responders are also victims of disasters as they are faced with various kinds of stressors due to the nature of their work. One major issue faced by this group is compassion fatigue which is the secondary trauma caring people experience as a result of listening to the trauma of their clients. It is therefore important to provide adequate assistance for these unsung heroes. Literature reviews have shown how resources, such as organizational support, influence humanitarian worker’s appraisal of client demands which may turn into compassion fatigue. Coetzee and Laschinger (2017) model of compassion fatigue proposes that lack of resources may lead to self-focused empathy which is said to be a determinant of compassion fatigue. On the other hand, available resources lead to other-focused empathy which results to compassion satisfaction. Thus, in this ongoing study, it is argued that perceived lack of organizational support may be a good predictor of compassion fatigue. Utilizing a mixed method approach, this study aims to find out if perceive organizational support predicts compassion fatigue/ compassion satisfaction and to understand the unique experiences of Filipino disaster responder’s organizational support during disaster response. For the quantitative part, a total of 100 disaster responders will be given the following scales: Perceived Organizational Support (POS), Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL5), and Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Further, nine (9) disaster responders will be interviewed to understand their experience of organizational support. Structural equation modelling shall be utilized to determine research hypotheses: Other focused empathy mediates the positive relationship between perceived organizational support and compassion satisfaction (H1); Self focused empathy mediates the positive relationship between perceived organizational support and compassion fatigue (H2); Other focused empathy is negatively related to compassion satisfaction (H3); and Self focused empathy is negatively related to compassion satisfaction (H4). Qualitative thematic analysis using Qualyzer shall be done for the interviews. Recommendations on organizational policy improvements with regards care for disaster responders experiencing compassion fatigue shall be formulated.