Delegation and Retention of Public Functions in the Digital Environments for Career Adaptation of War Veterans

Abstract

The article addresses the task of substantiating a governance typology of public functions in digital environments for the career adaptation of war veterans. The starting observation is set: as of April 2026, Ukraine simultaneously operates four to five relatively parallel digital environments of veteran policy («Diia Veteran PRO» section in the Diia application, the veteranpro.gov.ua portal, the «Career of a Veteran» platform, the «e-Veteran» platform), a network of around two thousand veteran-support specialists in communities, and the State Targeted Programme «Veteran. Work» for 2026–2027 with a budget of 276.471 million hryvnias; yet no management framework explains which functions the state retains, which it delegates to platforms, and which it shares with civil society and business. Drawing on national data from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, the Sociological Group «Rating», IREX/Veteran Hub/KIIS, and comparative review of CTP (UK), TAP (USA), and VAC (Canada), the article argues that the issue is not the absence of digital tools but their dispersion; this dispersion disorients the veteran (67.79% are unaware of existing retraining programmes), the employer (34.2% of companies acknowledge the absence of effective support programmes), and the public manager. A triadic typology of functions – retained, delegated, and shared – is proposed, each linked to a corresponding support mechanism and abuse safeguard. The typology is tested on four veteran ecosystem functions: verification of competences, personalised educational pathways, matching with employers, and on-the-job support. The article proposes the typology as an analytical filter when designing the implementation action plan of the «Veteran. Work» Programme 2026–2027. The limits of the model are stated (psychological rehabilitation, physical workplace accessibility, social attitudes), and a direction for further research is outlined – the cautious deployment of decentralised digital platforms based on distributed ledger technology (blockchain) for building tools of professional veteran networking, recording, and independent verification of reputational data on the basis of tokenised assets.