End of Commitment Report – Providing residents with quality municipal services through digital technologies.

Name of Evaluator

Mariana Zvarych

Email

[email protected]

Member Name

Ternopil, Ukraine

Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title

Action plan – Ternopil, Ukraine, 2021 – 2023

CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action...

Providing residents with quality municipal services through digital technologies, expanding the list of services, reengineering urban services and implementing a single information system of city management.

Title

Providing residents with quality municipal services through digital technologies, expanding the list of services, reengineering urban services and implementing a single information system of city management.

Action

The project envisages updating the “Electronic Cabinet of a Ternopil resident” and supplementing it with new electronic services, as well as creating a Unified information system for managing city resources.

Problem

Lack of a single database – registers.
Improve the quality of municipal services, speed up the process of providing services using the latest technologies, and develop a single information system for city management (resource management) to improve the level of e-government. This will improve the provision of services to city residents and reduce the number of visits to municipal institutions to address a particular issue. For people, it saves time and resources to obtain services, and for municipal employees, it automatically saves applications.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

Complete

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Commitment No. 1 has been fully completed. As part of its implementation, the “e-Ternopil. Resident Portal” was created, which has become the main digital access point to administrative and municipal services for the city’s residents. The portal includes electronic requests, service applications, participation in surveys, and public discussions. The tool is fully integrated with the mobile application “e-Ternopil”, which is used by over 60,000 people, increasing the number of engaged participants.

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

The implementation of the commitment took place under martial law and limited budgetary funding, which caused delays in meeting the implementation deadlines. The war in Ukraine made it impossible to carry out a number of planned actions within the specified timeframe. Nevertheless, thanks to external support — in particular, the Council of Europe Congress Project “Local Initiatives on Open Government and Human RightsAn essential part of open government includes protecting the sacred freedoms and rights of all citizens, including the most vulnerable groups, and holding those who violate human rights accountable. T... at Local Level in Ukraine” — it was possible to expand the functionality of the Resident Portal and complete key stages of the commitment’s implementation. Cooperation with international partners enabled the prompt introduction of digital services, which became a tool for ensuring stable interaction between residents and local authorities even in times of crisis.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

Few of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Certain stages were implemented later than originally planned due to military actions and financial constraints. The final stage of implementation took place in 2024.

• Stage 1 of the commitment – “Establishing the operation of the Electronic Document Management System to integrate all processes” – was implemented as planned in the corresponding stage.
• Activities 2 – “Implementation of the next stages of the ‘Electronic Cabinet of the Ternopil Resident'” – and 3 – “Development of the Unified Information System” – were completed later due to martial law. As of the date of report submission, all three activities have been implemented.

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The implementation of the commitment has significantly improved citizens’ access to information and digital services. Through the “e-Ternopil. Resident Portal,” more than 60,000 users can access services online. The portal offers 24 services, with over 380 requests, inquiries, and applications submitted, and 1,699 reviews collected through the new “Rate Your Ride” service. More than 10 public surveys and discussions have been conducted, generating over 7,000 interactions. Thanks to digitalization, the transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More of local government operations has increased, service coverage has expanded, and communication between citizens and authorities has become more efficient.

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The “e-Ternopil. Resident Portal” has created new digital opportunities for citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More. Residents actively take part in surveys and discussions, submit requests, and receive personalized information. Feedback is taken into account when making decisions related to changes in transportation routes, services, and infrastructure projects.

A significant outcome of the project is that previously, there were not enough digital tools that were convenient for the average user to access and utilize. Another challenge was the lack of many digital services, which we are now implementing for the first time. For example, in the past, the city used an external “Electronic Surveys” platform, but few residents participated because they had to manually check the third-party site or regularly follow the news to stay informed about new surveys.

In contrast, the new service automatically sends notifications about new surveys to all registered users of the portal. As a result, users can immediately access the survey and vote without the need for additional authorization. This new mechanism simplifies both information delivery and citizen participation in electronic democracy.

Provide evidence for your answer:

e-Ternopil_eng.docx

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Marginal

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The introduction of the information system has improved oversight of compliance with deadlines for processing requests and applications. Thanks to digital tools, residents can track the status of each request, while heads of structural units have access to analytics on processing efficiency, ensuring accountability of public services.

2.1.4 Other Results

Not Applicable

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The commitment directly addressed the problem identified in the action plan — the lack of a unified digital system for managing municipal services, which complicated citizens’ access to services and hindered the efficiency of the municipality. Previously, residents had to use different platforms to submit applications, appeals, or participate in surveys, which reduced engagement and complicated communication with the city council. The creation of the “e-Ternopil. Resident Portal” solved this issue: now all services are available in a single digital environment. This has significantly saved residents’ time and reduced the municipality’s resource burden. Application processing is now automated, and access to services and surveys has been simplified. At the same time, the generated analytics improved governance processes in the community, and the integration with the mobile app made e-services even more accessible to the public

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

Despite the challenges of the full-scale war, the commitment was successfully completed thanks to the support of the Council of Europe. In particular, in 2024, the “e-Ternopil. Resident Portal” was developed and launched as part of the project “Local Initiatives on Open Government and Human Rights.” In the future, it would be advisable to provide backup support channels to ensure the uninterrupted implementation of digital services in emergency situations.