Drohobych has been included in the list of 50 Ukrainian cities that will be assessed in 2026–2027 under the new cycle of the European City Index. The research is being conducted by the “Transparent Cities” programme of Transparency International Ukraine with the support of international partners.
The purpose of the assessment is to examine how well city councils adhere to the principles of openness, accountability, integrity and good governance. The first stage began in October 2026 and focuses on the openness of city authorities and their interaction with the public.
Analysts will examine how accessible and understandable the information on the work of the city council is for residents, how easy it is to find key documents and decisions, to learn about the activities of council bodies and to use the available tools for public participation.
Overall, the research will cover seven areas: openness, electronic services, open data, accountability, public finance, integrity and anti-corruption, as well as public investment. The results will be published step by step for each area so that municipalities can familiarise themselves with the findings in good time and address the identified shortcomings before the end of the entire assessment cycle.
Drohobych already has considerable experience of participating in transparency rankings. In 2018–2019 the city topped the national ranking of city transparency, and in 2020–2021 it consistently ranked among the top five leaders. After the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, part of the information on the official website was restricted for security reasons, which affected the results — Drohobych was given the status of a non-transparent city.
However, based on the findings of the 2023 study, the community returned to the top five most transparent cities of Ukraine. In 2024 Drohobych took ninth place among 100 municipalities assessed under updated criteria.
The community leadership sees participation in the new cycle of the European City Index as an opportunity to obtain an independent evaluation of its activities, to identify areas for further development and to take into account expert recommendations. It is emphasised that transparency is not only about complying with formal requirements, but also about the genuine accessibility of information for residents, the possibility to monitor the work of the authorities and to take part in decision-making.
The organisers stress that the results of such an assessment are also important for international cooperation. Open data, accountability and transparent procedures of local self-government bodies increase the level of trust from foreign partners, investors and international organisations.
The new research cycle is intended to show how far the practices of the Drohobych community comply with modern standards of open governance, and will also help to outline further steps to strengthen the transparency and accountability of the authorities.
The research is being implemented with the support of the MATRA Programme of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine and with financial support from Sweden within the institutional development programme of Transparency International Ukraine.