Every year, the Transparent Cities team presented the Transparency Ranking of 100 Ukrainian cities and the Accountability Ranking of 50 Ukrainian cities in the first months of the year. Considering the context of perceiving the results, this year's study is published with a focus on recommendations that are relevant in the conditions of war.

The aim of the study was to record the existing development and progress of the municipalities in order to return victoriously to their rebuilding and improvement. Read about the main results of the study below.

The leader of both rankings in 2021 is Mariupol. This is the second time because the city won last year as well. The City Council not only formally fulfilled the requirements specified by law, but also implemented many good practices, making the city exemplary in the field of data publication, online services, work with the geoportal, etc.

For the first time, 5 cities crossed the 80-point mark. In addition to Mariupol (91 points), the five leaders of municipal transparency in 2021 are Lviv (85.49), Dnipro (84.2), Drohobych (83.16), and Mukachevo (81.3).

The results demonstrate that cities have made important decisions concerning data publication, budget, e-democracy, development strategies, and regulatory policies. And most importantly, not only did they comply with the requirements of the legislation, but they also initiated the creation of additional services for the comfort of their residents. The result of these efforts is an unprecedented level of openness of cities in the history of the Transparent Cities program. In general, over the 5 years of ranking, the average transparency indicator of 100 cities increased by 62.2% and, according to the results of the assessment in 202,1 amounts to 46.5 points.

Chervonohrad (45.4→66.2), Novomoskovsk (14.8→34.49), Mykolayiv (55.7→71.37), Mukachevo (65.9→81.3), Okhtyrka (41.7→54.8) added the highest number of points. In total, 54 cities grew in points, and 36 increased their position in the Ranking. The leaders in the Accountability Ranking are Mariupol (58.75), Dnipro (39.75), Ternopil (39.75), Lviv (33.25), Bakhmut (31).

According to the results of the Accountability Ranking of 50 cities, the average indicator has increased by 28.84% compared to last year and now amounts to 16 points.

The team emphasizes that transparency and accountability of the authorities are also factors that ensure the effectiveness of local governance in times of crisis.

“Many of the tools promoted by the Transparent Cities program contributed to the resilience of cities and strengthened capacities to respond to crises. For example, the publication of information on municipal real estate registered by the city council allows to understand the amount of possible housing for resettlement and relocation of businesses from hot zones, and a published clear list of social assistance institutions and services will help guide the displaced persons in meeting their needs,” states Olena Ogorodnik, head of the Transparent Cities program.

Among the recommendations that may be useful in wartime are the following: introduction of electronic registration of housing applications and online applications to social assistance institutions, ensuring the distribution of funds among civil society organizations, etc. Furthermore, analytics of the program advise city councils in the front-line zones to restrict access to the available data on the official resources of the city and publish the volume and parties of humanitarian assistance. An important step for cities during the war will be the severance of friendly relations with cities in russia and belarus, as well as the renaming of streets that are associated with russia.

Given the devastating destruction that russia is inflicting on our cities, the Transparent Cities team call for pressure on russia: to impose tough sanctions, force businesses and companies to leave russia and isolate it economically!

The team also ask international partners to support Ukraine: to allocate funds for arms, ammunition, humanitarian needs, and refugees.

The analytical note has been created 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 Delegation to Ukraine. Its content is the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine CSO and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.