Zaporizhzhia has shown a transparency in the sphere of information on work of local authorities, and public procurement. But the city is absolutely closed concerning social services and communal property. Such results have allowed Zaporizhzhia to take the 64th place in transparency rating of 100 cities of Ukraine and earn 26 point out of 100 possible. The research was performed by the Ukrainian branch of a global network Transparency International with the Institute for Political Education. Top cities were ranked according to 91 indicators in 13 spheres, amongst them, budget process, human resource issue, public procurement, availability of online services and other.
In general, 26 points for a regional center is an extremely undesired indicator. In common sense a main city of a region should set the tone. But to take an example of transparency from Zaporizhzhia is premature.
In Zaporizhzhia sphere of social services has proven to be the most closed zero point. In open sources there is no even a list of social service facilities, not mention providing of electronic services by the bodies and reporting about provided assistance. Also the spheres of housing policy, communal property, professional ethics and conflict of interest leave much to be desired. All of them have gotten less than 1 point.
The best situation in the city is observed in the spheres of information on work of local authoritys bodies (4.9 points), budget process and contracts, public procurement (3.8 points) and also in sphere of access to information and public participation (2.5 points). But it still should be much more done on transparency of these spheres.
The problem of Zaporizhzhia is that here the city authority prefers to communicate with public at a distance. The passive access to information supposedly has been improved. But at the same authority shows a complete unwillingness to cooperate with public. A resolution of all important issues happens without participation of independent public activists, says Nataliia Zabolotna, head of board of non-governmental organization Narodnyi Zakhyst.
According to the head of the Transparency International Ukraines project Building Transparent Cities in Ukraine, Kateryna Tsybenko, the rating of 100 biggest cities included 4 cities from Zaporizhzhya region: Zaporizhzhia, Melitopol, Enerhodar, Berdiansk. Sadly, regional center has earned less point than 3 district cities. They all have proven to be better at some things than Zaporizhzhya. For example, there is a very user-friendly website in Berdiansk, and it is easy to find all needed information on it. There is a very developed sphere of public procurement in Enerhodar, and education in Melitopol, the representative of TI Ukraine has mentioned.
Transparency International Ukraine and Institute for Political Education are ready to cooperate with the authority and local activists of Zaporizhzhia, and to propose their recommendations and advice on increasing transparency of the city. Because at this moment the process of power de-centralization is going on in the country, at the same we should not allow de-centralization of corruption.
The project team expresses its appreciation to the Partnership for Transparent Local Budgets for participating in the preparation. The project Building Transparent Cities in Ukraine is supported by the United Nations Democracy Foundation.
Contact for media: Olha Tymchenko, Head of Communication Department Transparency International Ukraine
Phone: + 38 050-352-96-18,
E-mail: tymchenko@ti-ukraine.org
Transparency International Ukraine is a national chapter of Transparency International, an anti-corruption NGO with over 90 national chapters; which operates in more than 100 countries. TI Ukraines mission is to limit the increase of corruption in Ukraine by promoting transparency, accountability, and integrity in both the public authorities and civil society. You can learn more about the organizations activity on the website www.ti-ukraine.org