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 o f 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 o f the UNHCR and the ILO are compared : the intervention, in December 2004, o f the UNHCR in favor o f victims o f 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]