Factors of Governance Capacity: Lessons From Three Years of War in Ukraine

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization. 

By Nataliia Aliushyna
March 14, 2025

The functioning of the public administration system during wartime can be compared to running with weights. This is the most challenging type of running, where an athlete takes on the distance wearing a special vest with plates. The runner exerts more effort but achieves higher training intensity and more noticeable results.

Of course, there is a fundamental difference between sports and Ukraine’s reality. At the end of the race, an athlete stops, removes the weights and returns to normal life. In contrast, my country has had no right to stop or even take a break for over 1,100 days.

During this time, Ukraine’s public administration system has been operating under the conditions of a full-scale war with the Russian Federation. Despite immense pressure, we must resist the enemy, fulfill domestic social obligations and maintain the trust of our international partners. Throughout this period, we have gained significant experience—valuable for the United States of America and European countries, considering the global risks predicted by analysts worldwide.

On Managerial Cohesion and Openness to Civil Dialogue

The Ukrainian civil service has been forced to demonstrate resilience and fundamental strength. Otherwise, the state would have ceased to exist long ago. Both Ukrainians and international partners acknowledge this. We have adapted to risks, learned to define tactical and strategic goals and achieved results. This has been possible due to institutional adaptability, but primarily thanks to the dedication and professionalism of thousands of public servants.

However, in the fourth year of full-scale war, it is becoming evident that the initial potential is no longer sufficient to sustain the same level of effectiveness in countering risks. Even large countries with well-functioning governance systems—such as Ukraine—experience exhaustion and require personnel and institutional transformations. Given this, we must highlight two key wartime factors that demand increased attention, as they significantly impact governance capacity.

The first factor is the physical and psychological exhaustion of public servants. Under stressful conditions, people quickly burn out and lose motivation. In public service, these processes are more pronounced than in the private sector. Employees of state and municipal institutions bear a higher level of responsibility and face more legal restrictions. Unlike other citizens, they cannot take leave at any time to restore their psychological balance with their loved ones. Meanwhile, the loss of experienced public servants weakens the institutional strength of the state.

The second factor affecting the public administration system is complex political risks. We sense that after a certain period of active war, society becomes more vulnerable to political risks. Public equilibrium is beginning to be disrupted by disillusionment and apathy. The reasons are obvious. Our soldiers and civilians are killed daily. Parts of our territory remain occupied, and Ukrainians captured there are held hostage by Russians. Millions of families are separated as wives, mothers and children have fled abroad.

Citizens painfully perceive the fact that their state is not yet able to radically change the situation. Moreover, international partners engage the Kremlin criminal in negotiations instead of holding him accountable for crimes that are obvious to the civilized world. These processes intensify political turbulence in society, negatively affecting institutional resilience. People feel despair, which leads to a partial loss of trust in their own state and the officials who represent it.

Why State Institutions Are Not a “Golden Cage” for the Chosen Few but a Civic “Open Space”

In such extremely challenging conditions, the key task of public service is to demonstrate managerial coherence and openness to civic dialogue. This means strengthening and renewing the human resources of public service, enhancing social engagement and integrating civic initiatives into state institutions.

A particularly important area is the preservation of the public service’s human capital and the prevention of professional burnout, including through the widespread implementation of mental health programs.

It is crucial to convince society that state institutions are not a “golden cage” for the chosen few but an “open space” for the civic community. To achieve this, it is necessary to bring the values of public service closer to public understanding, enhance its attractiveness as a workplace for qualified professionals from the business sector and appeal to university graduates.

In this context, I recall a successful example—our team organizing a series of large-scale events for students under the slogan “Join in. Public service is for you”.

War amplifies people’s demand for justice and integrity. The state must provide everyone with the opportunity to recognize these values within themselves, voice them openly and join the team of change-makers at the local or national level.

One of the key tools we have introduced to support this is the National personnel reserve. We have developed it as a digital platform where any Ukrainian willing to become a public servant during or after the war can submit their resume. Applicants are admitted if they meet specific criteria regarding citizenship and education. Currently, the reserve includes resumes of more than 3,000 Ukrainians.

We see the personnel reserve not just as a staffing tool but also as a marker of political trust between citizens and the state. We do not compel anyone to take a job when vacancies arise. It is enough that people register—by doing so, they publicly align themselves with their country.

On Life-long Learning, the Importance of Professional Training and the Power of Personalized Leadership

A crucial aspect of our institutional resilience is reinforcing integrity as a core principle of public service. In Ukraine, integrity is a top value and one of the key indicators of a civil servant’s competence. According to surveys conducted by the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service (the NAUCS), 44 percent of our civil servants identify integrity as a fundamental value in both their professional and personal lives.

Another essential factor in strengthening the public service’s managerial capacity is enhancing the professional education system. We actively promote the concept of life-long learning among public servants, continuously improving their professional qualifications, teaching foreign languages and fostering psychological resilience.

Throughout 2024, nearly 30,000 public managers have upgraded their qualifications at our professional training hub—the High School of Public Governance. Additionally, within the NAUCS project “Eng4PublicService”, 25,500 of my colleagues are studying English for free on an online platform provided by the Swiss educational corporation EF.

An extremely pressing task for me is the optimization of work processes in state bodies. In conditions of limited resources, this is the only option for any institution. We train Category “A” public servants (the High Civil Service Corps) in LEAN thinking skills, leadership in analyzing and optimizing typical work processes, transformation and scaling strategies and managing resistance during change implementation.

One of the latest challenges is the use of artificial intelligence in public service. This involves analyzing large datasets, identifying patterns and trends, predicting and preventing emergencies and ensuring citizen safety by processing data from video surveillance cameras.

In addition to professional knowledge and skills, an important factor in managerial resilience is the ability of public servants to exercise personalized leadership. The country is aware of thousands of instances of unique leadership among my colleagues. Their actions made Ukrainians see the public sector as a pillar of civil society. This significantly strengthens the managerial power of the state.

P.S.

Returning to the running analogy, I want to emphasize that Ukraine, even under extremely critical conditions, is capable of completing the distance set before it—even if it turns out to be an ultramarathon. To achieve this, we must gain what makes us stronger and shed what slows us down and drains our energy. Under these conditions, we will prevail.

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Author: Nataliia Aliushyna is the Head of the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service.

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