The focus of the partnerships was on solid waste management and performance measurement, although in Asunción, the solid waste management issues related more specifically to collection and routing, vehicle maintenance, and garbage characterization. For Luque and Itauguá, solid waste management issues included the development of a model for the establishment of cost services and performance indicators; a guide for performing a garbage characterization study and for locating a solid waste disposal site; and a model plan for incorporating customer input and leveraging citizen cooperation.

The partnership exposed many Asunción officials to approaches with the potential for an immediate, significant impact on their daily work. Along with representatives from surrounding municipalities, a total of six staff members and one councilor traveled to Austin to see first-hand three different landfill operations and how Austin integrates collections, recycling, street cleaning, landfills, and litter control into a single, comprehensive solid waste management effort. The transfer of technology from Austin experts enabled Asunción to incorporate new concepts and techniques into how it runs its landfill that will have a long-term impact on the health of the community surrounding the landfill by reducing odors and vectors for diseases along with long-term risks of gas explosions.   One of the most important results of the partnerships is that they provided a forum for restarting a dialogue among the city of Asunción, the surrounding municipalities, and the central department for meeting the metropolitan region’s landfill needs.

Asunción also learned how to incorporate performance measurement into its annual budget development exercise. The city adopted Austin’s technique of drawing up a “business plan” for each department as the basis for building its budget. Asunción also incorporated the practice of separating the budget into several funds to track the performance of enterprise-type activities such as solid waste management, vehicle maintenance, and building inspection.