A/HRC/38/33 actually “has no statistically significant effect on education spending, but is associated with decreases in health spending”.115 However, whatever the outcome of that debate, there is little evidence to suggest that non-binding social spending targets are likely to be effective in achieving meaningful social protection. Cooperation with other international organizations 51. The past decade has seen increased international attention to social protection and inter-institutional cooperation. The United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination adopted the Social Protection Floor Initiative in 2009 as a key response to the global crisis, and Member States endorsed it at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, as did the Group of 20 and ILO (in its Recommendation No. 202). Also in 2012, the Social Protection Inter-agency Cooperation Board, co-chaired by the World Bank and ILO, was set up to coordinate work in this area. Furthermore, Goal 1.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls on countries to implement “nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable”. 52. However, social protection cooperation between IMF and United Nations agencies, including ILO, has been marginal at best. 116 In practice, IMF and UNICEF have had a complicated relationship since the publication of Adjustment with a Human Face. Following the 2008 financial crisis, the two organizations sought closer cooperation by undertaking social protection pilot studies in 11 countries. However, the well-publicized and critical 2011 report caused considerable tension between the two organizations.117 The pilot studies reported some positive results in, for example, Burkina Faso, the Congo and Mozambique, but since that time, with the exception of Malawi, coordination has faltered. 53. There was little cooperation between IMF and ILO until 2010, when the two executive heads agreed to collaborate on the Social Protection Floor Initiative,118 and on three pilot cases. Two failed, but in Mozambique, inter-agency cooperation succeeded until the relevant personnel changed in 2013, at which point cooperation ceased.119 Despite the commitment of the Managing Director of IMF to the Initiative in 2012 120 and 2014, 121 cooperation between ILO and IMF has stalled. 54. In other areas, IMF has also been reluctant to cooperate with other international organizations with regard to social protection. Between 2012 and 2017, IMF representatives rarely attended meetings of the Social Protection Inter-agency Cooperation Board. 122 In 2018, IMF announced that it would attend, but only “when the issues under discussion are particularly relevant to the Fund’s work”.123 The lack of cooperation described above might be explained by different conceptions of social protection, by the longstanding determination of IMF to remain independent of the United Nations, or the fact that IMF is only committed to the Sustainable Development Goals in so far as they fall “within the scope of its mandate” and has expressed no particular interest in Goal 1.3.124 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 16 Ibid, p. 135. “On the other hand, almost 75 per cent ... of survey respondents ... reported minimal to no interaction with UN agencies (including the ILO)”, IMF, The IMF and Social Protection, para. 61. I. Ortiz, J. Chai and M. Cummins, “Austerity Measures Threaten Children and Poor Households: Recent Evidence in Public Expenditures from 128 Developing Countries”, Social and Economic Policy Working Paper (UNICEF, 2011); and Abrams, “The IMF’s Role in Social Protection”, p. 18. IEO, “IMF Collaboration with Partner Institutions on Social Protection”, Background Document (July 2017), p. 11. Ibid, p. 13. C. Lagarde, “Back to Rio — the Road to a Sustainable Economic Future” (IMF, 12 June 2012), available at www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp061212. IMF “The Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda”, available at www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2014/100314.pdf. IEO, “IMF Collaboration”, p. 30. IMF, “Implementation Plan”. See www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/16/46/Sustainable-Development-Goals.