Transparency International Ukraine has created the online platform of local government transparency and accountability. Community residents and CSO representatives will be able to assess local government transparency and accountability in 14 key sectors of their activity, leave feedback on accountability, and the government will be able to respond to these comments publicly.

Feedback will be taken into account in the formation of the Accountability Ranking of 50 Ukrainian Cities.

The sectors that can be assessed include education, infrastructure, procurement, budgeting process, municipal property, social services, etc. For each of the sectors, there is a clear specific list of assessment indicators.

The creation of the platform was supported by the European Union:

Communities have the most reliable information on the accountability of their local authorities. It makes little sense to assess accountability without them, which is why we need engagement. That is precisely the purpose of the platform for interaction of civil society and local self-government: provide people with a simple tool to record practical cases where transparency or accountability is questionable or, conversely, where considerable progress is observed.  We expect that with time, the online platform will become the number one tool for cities that want to be transparent and accountable, want to implement best practices of governance and maintain contact with the community,” said Manfredas Limantas, Sector Manager for Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption with the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

CSOs will moderate and publish feedback from the community in their personal profiles. Local platform representatives will also be certified.

Local self-government representaties will be able to create personal profiles to respond to feedback and rapidly communicate with the residents, as well as to have access to templates of regulatory documents and educational materials.

“In addition to the fact that transparency and accountability are values, they are also services provided by the government to the community. It is the practical experience of the public in communication with the authorities that can vividly illustrate when transparency and accountability are just for show, and when the government actually finds ways to raise the bar for themselves and to respond to citizens’ requests. This way it can stay predictable and effective,” says TI Ukraine’s Executive Director Andrii Borovyk.

The online platform has been created by the team of Transparency International Ukraine as part of the Transparent Cities program together with the teams of civil society organizations Civic Control Platform and Center for Public Monitoring and Research.

The initiative is implemented within the project “Transparent Cities e-platform for cooperation of citizens and local governments for accountability and good governance” funded by the EU.

Point of contact: Kateryna Talashuk, [email protected], 0967339468.