How city councils implement the provisions of the Transparent Local Government Code, what challenges prevent cities from moving forward, and which cities best coped with the implementation of the provisions — read the new study of the Transparent Cities program.

 

What is the Transparent Local Government Code?

Before the local election on October 25, 2020, the team of the Transparent Cities program and the Institute of Political Education developed the Transparent Local Government Code for candidates for MPs of local councils and candidates for the position of mayors.

The Code was developed based on the research methodology of transparency of 100 largest cities of Ukraine and best practices of local self-government bodies. It contains 11 provisions, from ensuring transparent management of municipal enterprises to implementing a local open data policy. Each of the provisions consists of detailed, clear points. By supporting the Code, the candidates pledged to comply with the provisions in case of obtaining the positions of mayor and MP of local councils.

Then, the Code was supported by 35 candidates for the positions of mayors, of which 9 eventually won the local election. The team of the Transparent Cities program analyzed the implementation of the provisions of the Code in those 9 cities where the signatories became mayors.

Key findings 

  • Although most cities met the Code’s requirements by 50% or more during the first year of the term of office, no city fully met the Code’s requirements.
  • The cities showed the best results in the spheres of transparency of decision-making and publishing up-to-date data on real estate (more than 80% were fulfilled).
  • The least transparent spheres remain the management of municipal enterprises (8.8%) and the implementation of infrastructure projects (47.2%).
  • In the sphere of municipal enterprises, it was found that no city adopted and published property policies — comprehensive documents that would define the city’s approaches to managing municipal property and enterprises.
  • In order to fully implement the requirements of the Code, we advise city councils to first of all focus on the implementation of those provisions that have received the lowest percentage of implementation (the sphere of ME management and implementation of infrastructure projects).

 

Read about the tips and the research methodology here.

The analytical note was developed within the framework of the project “Transparent Cities: e-platform for cooperation of citizens and local governments for accountability and good governance,” implemented with financial support of the European Union. Its content is solely the responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.