The Transparent Cities program examined how Ukrainian cities managed their public budgets in 2023–2024. The study found that in only 8 out of 100 municipalities, citizens have a say in allocating part of the budget.
The public budget allows citizens to directly influence the allocation of part of the local budget. In cities where it’s available, any resident can propose ideas to improve community life, participate in competitions, rally support from fellow residents, and watch their project come to life.
The full-scale war has deeply impacted all aspects of life for Ukrainians, including the public budgeting process. As of November, only 8 of the 100* cities studied held a participatory budget for 2023–2024. These cities are Vinnytsia, Volodymyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kamianske, Lutsk, Ternopil, Uman, and Khmelnytskyi.
In 2023, only project submissions were accepted in Vinnytsia, Volodymyr, Kamianske, and Ternopil, while Khmelnytskyi and Uman accepted projects in 2024. Meanwhile, Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk fully implemented the public budget in both years.
An unusual situation occurred in Kostopil, where the city council’s website indicated that project submissions for the public initiatives budget were accepted in August 2024. The stage of summarizing the results is currently underway, but no projects have been listed on the website page. Additionally, there were no announcements about the contest launch on the city council’s website or social media. Therefore, while a public budget was formally implemented in Kostopil, the lack of announcements meant that the public had no opportunity to learn about or participate in the competition.
In some cities, including Lviv, Dnipro, and Uzhhorod, funding for participatory budget projects was halted during the martial law period. Instead of a public budget, Lviv proposed the introduction of a volunteer budget aimed at effectively using funds to support the Security and Defense Forces, but this initiative was never implemented.
Most cities that have continued to involve the community in the budgeting process are located in central and western Ukraine. Additionally, citizen initiatives were primarily funded by regional centers and large cities, likely due to their greater economic capacity. At the same time, the financial factor is not always decisive, as demonstrated by Volodymyr and Kamianske, where the participatory budget was held in 2023.
Martial law has affected not only geography but also the focus of the projects. Previously, residents of cities often proposed projects focused on landscaping, culture, and sports. However, priorities have shifted. Nearly all cities with a public budget now have projects related to supporting the Defense Forces (such as procuring drones, evacuation equipment, electronic warfare devices, and weaving camouflage nets), establishing civil protection shelters, developing self-defense courses for civilians, providing social and psychological support for IDPs, and offering rehabilitation for veterans, security and Defense Forces employees, and the families of fallen combatants.
They also propose implementing separate infrastructure and social projects, such as equipping sports grounds in schools and kindergartens, updating library collections, funding theater tickets for soldiers and their families, IDPs, people with disabilities, and orphans, as well as procuring equipment for the psychological and emotional recovery of children, among other initiatives.
Transparent Cities explored the possibility of reintroducing an indicator to track the implementation of participatory budgets in cities. After consulting with representatives of local authorities and conducting a separate study, the program decided to postpone the initiative for a year to give city councils more time to adapt.
One of the program’s recommendations is that, rather than eliminating the participatory budget entirely, cities could reduce its size and focus on smaller projects that require fewer resources but still benefit the community. This approach would allow continued citizen participation without imposing an excessive financial burden on the city budget.
Additionally, the participatory budget could be directed toward addressing urgent wartime issues, such as supporting veterans and displaced persons, restoring small infrastructure, adapting civilian premises to new challenges, or improving energy efficiency.
Even in a protracted war, the public wants — and should be able — to influence where local funds are most needed. The analysis showed that most of the projects proposed by the public focus on supporting the military, veterans, their families, and displaced persons.
Therefore, the program hopes that this year local authorities will find a formula that enables the implementation of the participatory budget. After all, it is an effective tool that engages citizens in city governance, helps reduce social tension, and improves dialogue between local authorities and residents.
* The program’s analysts examined 100 municipalities that will be included in the 2024 city transparency ranking. The analysis is based on data from open sources, including official city council websites, mass media, and e-services such as Public Budget and Public Project.
Transparency International Ukraine is an accredited representative of Global Transparency International. Since 2012, TI Ukraine has been working to strengthen Ukraine. 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. In 2017–2022, the program annually compiled the Transparency Ranking of the 100 largest cities in Ukraine. After the full-scale invasion, the program began studying municipal transparency in the context of the ongoing war with Russia. In 2024, the team presented a second study that assessed 80 cities. Five cities were awarded the status of “transparent,” 23 were deemed “partially transparent,” and the remaining 52 cities were classified as “non-transparent.” The program produces high-quality analytics on various aspects of government-citizen interaction, as well as transparency and accountability in Ukrainian cities. In particular, this includes processes such as decolonization, housing policy, the state of open data at the local level, and more.
Only 8 of the 100* cities studied held a participatory budget for 2023–2024. These cities are Vinnytsia, Volodymyr, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kamianske, Lutsk, Ternopil, Uman, and Khmelnytskyi.
