Integration of rural communities into public-service delivery: Navigating Power Dynamics, Reciprocity, and Accountability incommunity co-production

RURAL COPE -project, in collaboration with the Tampere University and Helsinki University addresses the challenge of providing public services in rural areas. The service needs in rural areas are changing, and new methods for service production need to be identified. The project examines community-based social enterprises as actors that can offer innovative service models to rural areas, thereby shaping modes of traditional public governance. We utilize policy analysis, interviews and living labs in our data collection. Our research focuses on Finnish municipalities, but we also use comparative research in Finland and Japan. By studying the power relations, accountability, and reciprocity between actors, this research contributes to the discourse on the future of welfare states, collaborative governance, democracy, equality, and rural development. RURAL COPE challenges policymakers to design more effective and inclusive policies for rural community development.