In April, Transparent Cities did not make traditional city transparency rankings but evaluated City Councils' transparency during the war in 2022 in the adapted study. Only 3 City Councils were evaluated as “absolutely transparent” according to the results. 

However, our team strives to improve the performance of all Ukrainian cities and strengthen local self-government in war environment. Therefore, after the presentation of the results, we started a series of meetings with Ukrainian municipalities to analyze the situation of each city separately in detail, discuss recommendations and plan implementation activities.

Recently, the Sumy City Council asked us for advice on the results of Sumy in a new study. What indicators does the city have and what can be done to make them better?

Sumy fully met 7 indicators in the study and partially fulfilled 9 more (you can find the detailed breakdown in the comprehensive table with all ratings). The City Council has made sure that the website has information about compensation for IDPs and business operations during martial law. The city council website is accessible to people with visual impairments.

The city also created a map with shelters and special channels where citizens can report cases of corruption. Similar to the practice in many other Ukrainian cities, residents of Sumy have the option to submit electronic requests or seek public information.

However, Sumy City Council did not meet 21 criteria, therefore, the city received the status of “non-transparent.” 

Recommendations for increasing transparency

The City Council should be more open to citizens and at the same time comply with a number of legal requirements. Namely:

• Publish the agenda of meetings of the executive committee.In Sumy, this was done before the full-scale invasion, and this should continue further.
• Publish individual decisions of the mayor. Local authorities have started implementing this, but the available information is still insufficient.
• Announce meetings of collegial bodies of the City Council at least one day before the meetings.Announcements shall have a link to the broadcast of the meeting, the agenda, date and time of the event — this will ensure equal access of residents to the political process.
• Resume broadcasting local government meetings. Previously, residents could keep up to date with the political context by visiting the YouTube channel of the Sumy City Council. Now citizens do not have access to such an opportunity.

Transparency is not possible without open data. Local authorities should regularly publish and update the following information:

• Regulatory acts of local self-government bodies.In Sumy, the authorities share this information, but rarely update it. In addition to the website, they should be posted on the Open Data Portal.
• Information about advertising tools/structures in machine-readable format and a register of dismantled ads.We recommend recording information about issued permits and ads in a special geographic information system.
• Housing accounting information— this is especially important in the context of the housing crisis. Although Sumy website has general information about the number of people, it does not specify the housing queue and the grounds for admission.
• Other open data sets provided for by law.

Sumy City Council also needs to pay attention to indicators related to municipal property and land. To ensure transparency in land policy, the following steps are essential:

• Notify on construction, major and current repairs in the city. Although this is mentioned in the expenditure part of the Sumy budget, there is no detailed information about the facilities with ongoing or pending work. 
• Give an accurate list of decisions regarding land plots. Although City Councils often make these decisions in one “package,” they would better elaborate the details — the grounds for the decision, the characteristics of the land plot, and so on.
• Publish information about real estate on the balance sheet of the City Council.This gives a better understanding of how the city manages municipal property. Details about the premises, balance holder, and location should be posted in machine-readable format or on the geoportal.

The City Council can give Sumy residents even more opportunities. They may start with online submissions for better housing conditions on the City Council's website, in a special application, or even in Google form. This will help to overcome a number of restrictions that arise during an off-line visit to the relevant institutions.

How to turn recommendations into tangible actions?

Before taking action, we advise Sumy and all other City Councils to develop an action plan. This helps to stay on the right track and break down a big workload into smaller chunks. Transparent Cities is ready to review the developed plan and advise on its improvement upon request.

We strive to make all Ukrainian cities as resilient and transparent as possible. Therefore, the program is open to cooperation with Ukrainian municipalities. Representatives of cities can contact the program's email transparent-cities@ti-ukraine.org

It's worth noting that we previously conducted a similar city analysis and organized a corresponding meeting for Stryi City Council representatives.