Methodology for rating the transparency of cities
Description
Building Transparent Cities in Ukraine
Transparency International Ukraine, together with the Institute of Political Education, assesses transparency by measuring the amount of the information proactively provided to citizens, the quality of preventive measures to fight corruption and the openness of governments towards citizens when they want to know information. As a part of the research, 25 of Ukraine’s largest cities will be presented in April 2017, and 100 cities in June. The research will be conducted based on the data from the following sources:
– The quality of data on the official municipal website;
– Response of official queries directed to local authorities;
– Questionnaires and communication with representatives of either local authorities or those who work in the City Council (Executive Committee).
All cities are measured by 91 indicators according to 13 areas:
- Information about the work of municipal authorities;
- Public participation;
- Public procurement policy;
- Housing policy;
- Budgeting and public contracts;
- Grants and funding;
- Social services;
- Human resources;
- Professional ethics and conflict of interests;
- Land use and construction policy;
- Municipal businesses;
- Municipal property;
- Education.
The Maximum score for a municipality including in all areas is 100 points. Each indicator weighs 1 or 2 points. Questions in the methodology are mostly closed and provide for yes/no answers. Depending on how fully the requested information is disclosed, researchers assess the material from 0 (no information) to 1 or 2 points (information is fully disclosed).
This research is based on the Slovak methodology, which the researchers adopted to the Ukrainian context via the analysis of other similar rankings of Ukraine, consultations with experts of the Innovation Program Projects at Transparency International Ukraine. The final methodology was developed after consultations with the concerned representatives of civil society organizations, who provided their proposals of indicators. The assessment of 25 cities took place in March 2017, 100 cities will be assessed from April to June 2017.
The problem this project aims to address is corruption in local governments and the low capacity for compliance with best practices in transparency and accountability. The ongoing decentralization reform in Ukraine results in more power and
financial resources being delegated to the municipalities, thus strengthening local governance.
The project aims to increase the motivation and drive of Ukrainian cities to become more transparent, accountable and participatory.
You can find out more about the project and get acquainted with the rating of cities, made on this methodology, on the website transparentcities.in.ua
Authors
Oleksandr Solontai, Olena Rehesha, Liubomyr Hrytsak, Dmytro Yakymchuk and others
Date
30/06/2017
Tags
Download PDF
