An adapted study of the city councils’ transparency, which the Transparent Cities program conducted after the start of the full-scale invasion, showed that only 3 cities could come close to the status of “transparent.”

We understand how shelling, destruction of infrastructure, and massive flows of internally displaced persons are a huge challenge for cities. Despite all challenges, our team seeks to make cities transparent. This increases public confidence in the authorities, unites communities and strengthens cities in the fight against the enemy, and improves the image of cities in the eyes of international partners and donors, as they realize that they are facing those who are ready to defend their values even in such a difficult time.

We analyze changes in legislation for cities and provide municipalities with advice and recommendations by the requirements of martial law. For example, our experts have already analyzed how to improve transparency in Stryi, Sumy, Drohobych, and Shostka. 

Today, we will look at the results of the Zakarpattia city of Mukachevo, one of the three cities that fell into the “transparent” category (along with Lviv and Dnipro). Detailed data on the city's results can be found in this table.

Between March and December 2022, Mukachevo City Council fully implemented 27 out of 40 indicators. At the same time, the city partially fulfilled 6 indicators and did not fulfill 6 more at all. Moreover, due to the lack of information on the website, it was not possible to properly determine the implementation of 1 indicator, which did not affect the final results of Mukachevo.

Let’s take a closer look at which criteria the city has fulfilled exemplarily and where additional efforts are needed to increase the transparency of city governance. 

What indicators did Mukachevo fulfill exemplarily?

The local authorities in Mukachevo are doing a lot to increase transparency, including this one:

• They publish registers of municipally owned real estate, land lease agreements, and all advertising media or structures in the city. Accordingly, Mukachevo properly publishes the datasets required by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 835.
• They broadcast meetings of the city council, executive committee, and standing sessions. Thus, residents can remotely join the meetings of the council or its bodies and follow the decision-making process.
• They provide an opportunity to electronically register applications for housing, receive online social services, or register a child for school or kindergarten. The local authorities also consider petitions that lacked votes as simple appeals. So, the city is developing digital tools, and the authorities are not shying away from communicating with residents additionally.

We are truly happy when cities implement transparency practices. Mukachevo, although it has made great progress in this area, still has work to do. Let's move on to the recommendations that the experts of the Transparent Cities program came up with for city council representatives.

Recommendations for increasing the level of transparency

The city can start by fulfilling those indicators related to informing about the activities of the city council and its bodies. We recommend:

• Aligning the draft agendas of the executive committee and city council meetings with the issues that are considered there. It is necessary to minimize situations where issues are introduced on the spot at the meeting.
• Publishing an accurate list of decisions in the field of land relations. Instead of making “package” decisions, it is necessary to detail information about each land plot, its size and location, the persons in whose interests the decision was made, the basis for its adoption, etc.

In Mukachevo, as in other cities, there are several municipal property objects and land plots registered. They are used for the needs of the community, and regulations require transparency in land relations. Therefore, the city council should:

• Publish lists for major and current repairs, construction, reconstruction, and urban improvement. Information should be made public at the beginning of the year after the adoption of budget documents, and supplemented in case of changes. 
• Continue to publish a list of plots available for development that can be sold at e-auctions.
• Hold e-auctions to sell rights to place temporary structures and seasonal trade in the city. For example, on Sale or other accredited platforms. This will reduce corruption risks and become a source of additional revenues for local budgets.

The city council is empowered to represent the interests of the local community and make decisions on its behalf. To improve the access of residents to the decisions and processes made and to control how residents' requests are implemented and the city's problems are solved, it is necessary to:

• Continue to announce meetings of standing commissions. It is important to do this in advance on the city council website and avoid announcing them on the spot.
• Add full information to announcements of meetings of the city council and its bodies. In particular, agendas (lists of issues) and links to online broadcasts.

In Zakarpattia, where Mukachevo is located, the number of internally displaced persons as of May 2023 was 39,000. Several IDPs are vulnerable groups in need of assistance, including humanitarian aid. Mukachevo's website provides a separate section with information for IDPs, but we also recommend that it be updated:

• Reports on the humanitarian aid received and the criteria for its distribution among citizens should be published. This can be done in the same section on the website or announcements of the city council.

How to implement the recommendations?

The first step that every city council should start with is to develop a plan that breaks down a large body of work into smaller steps with responsible persons and deadlines for their implementation. This will help to increase the efficiency of work and ensure proper control over the measures that the city council plans to implement to achieve its goals. Experts of the Transparent Cities program are ready to review the developed plan and advise on its improvement upon request.

We want all Ukrainian cities to be more transparent. Therefore, the program is open to cooperation with Ukrainian municipalities. Representatives of cities can contact us at transparent-cities@ti-ukraine.org