The first conference was organized by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Commonwealth Foundation, and the Commonwealth Consortium for Education on 'Learning to Live Together: Education for Social Cohesion' and was held 12-13 June 2009 at Bangi-Putrajya. Research Manager Dr. Thomas Uthup led a break-out session on 'Faith, Culture, and Education' on the first day and made a presentation in a session on 'International Co-operation to Promote education for Social Cohesion.'  

During the presentation, entitled 'U(nderstanding) + R(espect) = U(nited) S(takeholders) for Good Governance of Cultural Diversity, Education for Social Cohesion, Respect and Peace,' Dr. Uthup gave an overview of what the Alliance was and its goals, rationale, and activities. He then focused on the education activities conducted or facilitated by the Alliance and other partners, and concluded with the strong emphasis placed on partnerships by the Alliance.

The second conference, the triennial Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM): Education in the Commonwealth: Toward and Beyond Global Goals and Targets was jointly organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Ministry of Education Malaysia, and Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 15-19 June 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At a workshop on 'Faith, Culture and Social Cohesion,' after giving a brief overview of the Alliance, Dr. Uthup presented the 'live' version of the Education about Religions and Beliefs clearinghouse and participated in the formulation of the Stakeholder’s input into the CCEM Final Communique.

The complementarity of the UNAOC's education objectives and the Commonwealth meetings was underlined by the latter’s emphasis on the importance of education programs for understanding and respect, the encouragement of exchanges, and the call for partnerships.