In the new report, TI Ukraine analyzes how Ukrainian cities changed during the first year after the local election: what innovative practices were introduced, which sphere remains the least open, and how conscientiously the election promises of mayors were fulfilled. Look for details in the results of the study.

Transparent Local Government Code as a reference point for the transformation of cities

Before the local election on October 25, 2020, the team of the Transparent Cities program and the Institute of Political Education developed the Transparent Local Government Code for candidates for MPs of local councils and candidates for the position of mayors. The Code was developed on the basis of the research methodology of transparency of 100 largest cities of Ukraine and best practices of local self-government bodies.

It contains 11 provisions, from ensuring transparent management of municipal enterprises to implementing a local open data policy. Each of the provisions consists of detailed, clear points.
By supporting the Code, the candidates for mayors pledged to be open, transparent, accountable, and after winning the election — to work so that information became as accessible as possible for the residents. The Code was supported in 14 oblasts and 30 cities of Ukraine. The document was signed by 35 candidates for the position of mayors, of which 9 eventually won the local election.

The team of the Transparent Cities program has analyzed the implementation of the provisions of the Code in those 9 cities where the signatories became mayors. These are: Kyiv, Mariupol, Pokrov, Rivne, Skadovsk, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Chervonohrad, Shepetivka.

A year after the election: what has changed in Ukrainian cities?

Although most cities met the Code's obligations by 50% or more during the first year of the term of office, no city fully met the Code's requirements.

• The cities showed the best results in the spheres of transparency of decision-making and publishing up-to-date data on real estate (more than 80% were fulfilled).
• The spheres of municipal enterprises management (8.8%) and implementation of infrastructure projects (47.2%) remain the least transparent.
• In the sphere of municipal enterprises, it has been found that no city adopted and published property policies — comprehensive documents that would define the city's approaches to managing municipal property and enterprises.
• “Transparency is an important indicator for local authorities and at the same time a convincing marker for citizens and businesses, which helps to understand whether the authorities are working effectively and openly, explains Olena Ohorodnik, head of the Transparent Cities program. We will continue to advocate for the provisions of the Code because they do not lose their relevance as of today.”

Next steps — recommendations for local authorities

To fully implement the requirements of the Code, we recommend that cities focus on implementing the following provisions:

• To adopt municipal enterprises property policies. 
• To form supervisory boards in municipal enterprises. 
• To ensure that an annual external independent audit of the municipal enterprises' activity is conducted. 
• To expand and improve the community's anti-corruption policy. 
• To involve citizens, in discussing the implementation of infrastructure projects. 
• To publish information on the implementation of infrastructure projects. 
• To complete the inventory of the community's land resources.

Read more about the results and main recommendations in the study:

The analytical note has been developed within the project “Transparent Cities e-platform for cooperation of citizens and local governments for accountability and good governance,” implemented with the financial support of the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.