Adaptive governance amidst the war: Overcoming challenges and strengthening collaborative digital service provision in Ukraine

This case study explores how co-production of digital services contributes to a re-framed institutional structure for collaborative governance to respond effectively to collective threats. This study explores the role of collaborative governance and digital technologies in ensuring public service delivery amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine. Focusing on the Diia platform and co-production of services between local government and civil society organizations, the research highlights how digital tools have enabled adaptive governance under extreme crisis posed by the war. By analyzing institutional dynamics in collaborative practices of co-production of public services enabled by digital technologies, this study sheds light on joint capacity for adaptive governance in societies under extreme crisis conditions. Using the Dnipropetrovsk region as an empirical case, this research applies Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to examine how government and civil society collaborations to deliver public services have fostered institutional changes and adaptation. The findings contribute to broader discussions on governance in on-going extreme crises, offering valuable insight into conflict-affected areas and emphasizing the importance of flexible, digitally enabled institutional arrangements for sustaining public service delivery.