How to achieve better coherence between the economic and social policies pursued by the agencies of the UN system? This paper looks at the concrete experience of two employment and social protection initiatives in two countries in South Asia, Nepal and Maldives, to illustrate some of the main factors that enabled some UN cooperation as well as the constraints deriving from policy differences and organizational boundaries. It makes suggestions for steps to enhance system-wide coherence, arguing the need to shift the focus of inter-agency debates from the efficiency of programming and operations to the policy levers to achieve development outcomes. The paper was prepared for the Policy Coherence for Growth, Employment and Decent Work project under the ILO-Norway Cooperation Agreement.