Strategic co-creation and synergistic partnerships in digital budgeting reform: strengthening public governance for sustainable cities in Makassar, Indonesia

Background Digital budgeting reforms increasingly hinge on collaborative governance. This study examines how strategic co-creation and synergistic partnerships shape Makassar’s e-budgeting and strengthen public governance for sustainable cities. Methods A qualitative single-case design triangulates a five-year fiscal series (2019–2023), a regulatory hierarchy, internal documents, and 15 semi-structured interviews (government, DPRD, civil society, academia, banking/technology). Results Makassar has established strong procedural rails—standardised workflows, KKPD non-cash instruments, bank integrations, and interoperable audit trails—enhancing transparency and control. Execution remains uneven: transfers realise ≈97–98%; PAD fluctuates ≈80–94%; total expenditure fell to ≈76% (2021–2022) before rebounding to ≈86% (2023). Participation is largely transactional; citizens/CSOs rarely engage in problem framing, prototyping, or joint evaluation. Discussion We identify an operational “synergy gap”—strategic alliances not institutionalised as day-to-day co-monitoring and co-problem-solving. We advance a venue–capabilities–resilience (VCR) triad to explain why transparency gains in a SIPD-centred ecosystem do not automatically yield participatory governance. Conclusion Closing the synergy gap requires performative co-creation: re-engineering Musrenbang as co-design sprints, a multi-party execution task force, audit-to-design rule translation, and local resilience to national platform disruptions. The findings offer portable guidance for cities linking digital rails to inclusive, accountable, and sustainable budgeting.