In the 2018 Transparency Ranking of 100 Ukrainian cities, the highest scores were awarded to:
Drohobych (85.2 out of 100), Mariupol (76.4), Vinnytsia (70.3), Pokrov (68), and Dnipro (66.6).
It is worth noting that the TOP-5 changed dramatically compared to the previous year: in 2017, the leaders were Lviv, Kropyvnytskyi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Mykolaiv, and Kyiv.

The ranking demonstrates how proactively information is provided to citizens, the quality of anti-corruption preventive measures, and the openness of local authorities toward the public when it comes to access to information.

Full information about the assessment of all 100 cities is available at transparentcities.in.ua.

The overall transparency level across the 100 cities increased by 12%, from 30% in 2017 to 41% in 2018.
Notably, 27 cities scored more than 50 points out of 100 in 2018, compared to only 6 cities in 2017.

The city of Drohobych, the 2018 leader, improved its score from 46 to 85, jumping from 10th place to 1st.
Positive developments in the city include: an online application system for housing, a two-year archive of financial aid decisions, and achieving the maximum score in 5 out of the 13 evaluated areas, according to TI Ukraine’s analysts.

Cities that made the biggest progress in scores from 2017 to 2018:

• Pokrov: from 18.3 to 67.95

• Mariupol: from 28 to 76.35

• Dnipro: from 25.6 to 66.6

• Drohobych: from 46.2 to 85.2

• Bakhmut: from 27.26 to 62.23

Negative progress was recorded in Podilsk and Nova Kakhovka, meaning that the amount of publicly available information decreased, and these cities became even less transparent to their residents.

The city ranking was based on 91 indicators across 13 areas, including budget and finance, procurement, housing and utilities policy, education, social services, and access to local government information.

The most transparent area across Ukrainian cities is Access and Participation, with a transparency level of 62%.
This area saw a 15% increase in transparency compared to 2017.
85 out of 100 cities improved their scores in this domain, particularly through implementing indicators such as the ability to submit electronic appeals to city councils and allowing citizens to attend committee meetings without prior approval from council members.

The second most transparent area is Information on Local Government Operations, with nearly 56% transparency.
This area also improved by 10% compared to 2017, with 72 cities increasing their scores by, for instance, publishing announcements and council messages on their official websites.

The smallest improvement was seen in the Financial and Material Aid, Grants area – a 5% increase from 2017.

The least popular indicators to implement were those related to:

• Publishing annual reports of supervisory boards and municipal enterprise administrations

• Publishing information on whistleblower reports concerning conflicts of interest or unethical conduct by officials or council members
  These were implemented by only 3 out of 100 cities.

“Ukraine is currently undergoing decentralization. This reform can only succeed if local authorities are accountable. Otherwise, problems from the national level will simply shift to the municipal level.
Analyzing trends in municipal transparency, we observe both an overall improvement and willingness of some city councils to engage with communities, as well as a formalization of the concept of transparency,”
– said Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Chair of the Board of Transparency International Ukraine.

TI Ukraine actively supports local transparency and accountability.
The project team is open to cooperation with regional authorities and ready to assist by providing consultations and recommendations on how to use our transparency improvement tool.