This article relates an experience of cooperation through a network of institutions oriented to the training of health technicians, under the guidance of the Pan-American Health Organization (OPS). It also deals with present changes in the field and with the new human resources policies, with their respective implications in the world of work and of education. The experience may be regarded as an attempt to integrate the social-affective and technical processes that give strength and dynamism to the Network of Health Technicians (Rets). We examine its creation, objectives, structure and organization, as well as the OPS' management and the role of the institutional actors called Development Nuclei (Nudes) and their stimulating projects. Finally, we point to the advantages and progressive characteristics of the work done by professionals in the various Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean countries. We focus in particular on the innovative management mechanisms in technical cooperation when we discuss the factors that affect the sustainability and the possibility of success of network experiences that have the potential to mobilize and articulate horizontal cooperation in a globalized world.
health technicians; human resources in health; technical cooperation; network management; education networks