City of Drohobych and Bashtanska amalgamated community (AC) became the winners of the “Crystal of the Year” budget transparency rating held among Ukrainian amalgamated communities and cities. This is the first ever award presented for budget transparency in Ukraine, according to the internationally accepted evaluation methodology, developed and recognized by a consortium of international and Ukrainian organizations, aiming to increase the quality of governance and finance management. All nominees were rated according to 34 criteria. In total, 50 amalgamated communities and 37 cities took part in the evaluation.
The winners in other nominations were as follows: Shumska AC (the best budget for citizens), Vinnitsya (the most transparent disclosure of budget data in machine-readable format), Lutsk (the most transparent utility companies), Lviv (the most open expenditures), Chernivtsi (open budget information in the city), Sumy (the best involvement of citizens in the city budget process), Skalatska AC (the most innovative practices of ensuring budget transparency in the amalgamated community).
