The Davao Oriental State University (DOrSU) is committed to do Research, Development, and Extension (RDE) activities especially to the disadvantaged, needy, and underserved sectors to achieve sustainable development. In order to achieve collaborative and sustainable RDE services, the division had created an institutional strategy to respond and adopt to an ever changing situation through the eight centers: Regional ICRM Center (RIC-XI), Sentro ng Wika at Kultura (SWK), Cooperative Development Center (CDC), Tourism Information Education Center (TIEC), Gender and Development (GAD), Provincial Institute of Agriculture (PIA), Culture and the Arts Affairs Office (CAAO), and School Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (SDRRMO); five institutes: Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences (IALS), Institute of Business and Public Affairs (IBPA), Institute of Computing and Engineering (ICE), Institute of Education and Teachers Training (IETT), and Institute of Nursing and Allied Sciences (INAS); and three extension campuses: San Isidro Campus (SIC), Cateel Extension Campus (SEC), and Banaybanay Extension Campus (BEC). The creation of various centers had further specialized the services that the community can avail of. The centers are like shelters built to accommodate a need and ready for a specific purpose. Each center is like a way of life and has its own story to tell. It is hoped that the community and other clientele can be ushered from being vulnerable to empowered, from obliviousness to cognizant, from reactive to proactive, and from purposelessness to purposefulness. 

The division is the helping arm of the University in providing lifelong and continuing education for the people in the communities. It is anchored on the principle of teaching people how to fish. The enabling process involves working with people and being inspired by its sheer number and strength for participatory planning, developing, and implementing programs that meet their needs. The all-inclusive and integrated method in extending services is identified because of the intricate nature of the target community. These complexities require multiple approaches in addressing its felt need. However, no matter how diverse the stakeholders are, the thrust is always anchored to the welfare of the people in the community. The identified nine thematic areas are;

• • food security
  • environmental integrity
  • social development
  • education and policy development
  • information system
  • entrepreneurship
  • hospitality and health care services
  • engineering and other industrial technologies
  • disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA)