Crisis management and adaptation:

The COVID-19 pandemic generated challenging social, economic and health conditions, prompting governments and institutions to confront numerous obstacles. These organisations had to reorganise internally, reassess their missions, and innovate strategies. Evaluating their institutional responses during a crisis provides insights into the types and levels of impacts experienced and the organisations’ resilience. This paper aims to examine the effects of the pandemic on local public and private welfare providers to assess their response and adaptive capacities. A survey was conducted targeting public and associative institutions in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, using frequency analysis and ordinal regression to interpret responses provided to structured questions. A qualitative assessment was applied to open-ended answers. Findings indicate that institutions significantly impacted their internal functioning and the target group and territories of influence central to each organisation's missions. However, the questionnaire results reveal a strong capacity for response and adaptation among these institutions and an optimistic outlook for the future.