The Transparent Cities program studied which of the mayors reported in 2023. As a result of the analysis, 29 out of 80 mayors did not inform the citizens about their activities. Only 20 mayors published the announcement of the report at least a day before its presentation.
As part of the transparency study of city councils, the program analyzed how mayors reported on their work. Analysts verified the information as of January 5 and July 15, 2024.
By January 5, 2024, 24 heads of municipalities managed to provide information about their achievements for 2023. In 14 cities — Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Drohobych, Zviahel, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyia, Kremenchuk, Okhtyrka, Slavuta, Stryi, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Chervonohrad, Chernivtsi — reports were announced at least one working day in advance. Mayors of Dnipro, Kalush, Kremenchuk, Mykolaiv, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Uman, Chervonohrad, and Chernivtsi reported on their activities during a stream; others did so in text format.
The July analysis showed that over the past six months, another 27 mayors had reported for 2023. However, only residents of Dubno, Kovel, Korosten, Lubny, Netishyn, and Chernihiv were provided with this information in advance due to timely announcements.
So, six months later, there are still 29 of the 80 cities under study, whose leaders have not reported to their communities. Among them is Lviv, which, following the results of the transparency study, was recognized as a transparent city, and partially transparent Volodymyr, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Lutsk, and Uzhhorod.
An atypical situation is in Kovel, where the website of the city council mentioned that the mayor would report on the results of 2023 at personal meetings with the community, but no text or video report was published after these meetings. Only the news story on the website of the city council reported about this event. Therefore, the city mayor formally fulfilled the requirement of the law, but not all citizens had the opportunity to learn about the results of his activities.
Open annual reporting by the mayor on their activities to the community is a requirement of the Law on Local Self-Government in Ukraine.
Each year, the program checks that mayors meet this legal requirement.
The announcement at least a day before the publication of the report is an important practice of municipal management, as it contributes to the engagement of the community and the media in the event.
We call on city leaders to report to citizens. Reports by mayors during the war, when the ability of communities to control the activities of the authorities is limited, are necessary to build an honest dialogue with the citizens and cooperation with civil society.
Transparency International Ukraine is an accredited chapter of the global movement Transparency International. Since 2012, TI Ukraine has been helping Ukraine grow stronger. The organization takes a comprehensive approach to the development and implementation of changes for reduction of corruption levels in certain areas. TI Ukraine launched the Transparent Cities program in 2017. It aims at overcoming corruption at the local level and promoting the best practices of transparency and accountability.
During 2017–2022, the program annually compiled the Transparency Ranking of the 100 Largest Cities in Ukraine. After the full-scale invasion started, the program launched a study of municipal transparency in the context of the large-scale war with Russia. In 2024, the team presented the second study evaluating 80 cities. 5 cities were recognized as transparent, 23 were partially transparent, the other 52 cities were recognized as non-transparent. The program develops quality analytics on various aspects of interaction between the authorities and citizens, transparency and accountability in Ukrainian cities; in particular, these include decolonization processes, housing policy, the state of open data at the local level, etc.