Based on a unique comparison between the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (unhcr) and the International Labour Organization (ilo) in the 2000s, this paper invites to revisit the issue of change within international organizations (ios). Using a sociological perspective, it suggests to analyze ios’ reforms through a continuum of organizational strategies – from survival policies to claims for autonomy – implemented by agencies to justify their existence and actions. Two moments of the life of the unhcr and the ilo are compared : the intervention, in December 2004, of the unhcr in favor of victims of natural disasters following the tsunami in Southeast Asia, and the launch, in June 1999, of the Decent Work Agenda, by the ilo’s Director General.