In exactly one month's time, 54 Commonwealth leaders will converge on Perth, Australia for the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Government aides are finalising travel schedules, Commonwealth civil society organisations are jostling for space in a packed agenda and a few activists are preparing their picket signs in protest.
'So what?' you're probably thinking. And it's a fair question.
The Commonwealth is unique among multilateral organisations. It works on a consensus model with every country - from the largest to the smallest - sharing an equal voice. Membership is voluntary, predicated primarily on a country's commitment to upholding certain shared values and principles, including the protection and promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
But few people could tell you that. Say 'Commonwealth' to most people and the Games is about as far as you get.
In recent years the Commonwealth's identity has been steadily diluted, its protracted silence in the face of widespread human rights violations, pouring bucket-loads of cold water on its claim to moral authority.
Still, CHOGM 2011 presents an exceptional opportunity, for the tantalising promise of much-needed reform has begun to loom large.
Tasked two years ago with exploring options for Commonwealth reform, an Eminent Persons Group is due to present its report to leaders meeting in Perth. The Australian host government, along with the Brits, Canadians and a handful of others, are pushing hard to see the group's findings dominate CHOGM discussions. But early indications suggest that their bold recommendations won't make for easy reading. Certainly member countries with questionable human rights records, many of whom may prefer the timid Commonwealth of more recent years, are likely to find their suggestions unpalatable and the intergovernmental Commonwealth looks set to be confronted with a number of uncomfortable home truths.
Against the ominous backdrop of an apathetic public, a disinterested world media and growing calls for dramatic reform, an atmosphere of apprehension and urgency now characterises last minute preparations for the October summit.
But it's not all bad. After years of being dragged in fits and starts towards this moment, the Commonwealth is now being forced to redefine and prove its relevance in the 21st century. If it is to do so with any success, the shared values and principles which are so crucial to the integrity of the Commonwealth project, and which constitute its unique value-added on the world stage, must begin to mean something more than words.
Blogging on the Huffington Post today about our joint campaign, Adam Short, Plan UK's Head of Advocacy and Campaigns, urges Commonwealth leaders to take steps to end early and forced marriage. Of the 20 countries in the world where this practice is most prevalent, 12 are in the Commonwealth. Early and forced marriage represents one of the greatest barriers to girls' education, maternal health and economic empowerment, as well as the achievement of numerous Millennium Development Goals. It is exactly the kind of widespread human rights violation which the Commonwealth is uniquely well-placed to address, if only it will embrace the reform it so urgently needs.
So what if leaders meeting in Perth reject the recommendations of the Eminent Persons Group? For Commonwealth advocates the potentially fatal implications are all too clear. Even more worrying is the prospect that Commonwealth leaders may lose their nerve on reform and, with the same breath, announce that Sri Lanka - a country whose recent human rights record is questionable by any measure - has been awarded the privilege of hosting CHOGM in 2013. Commonwealth leaders would do well to consider the damaging affects of just such an outcome.
The Commonwealth can be a powerful actor for real global change, but not unless it can get its own house in order. Faced with a plummeting profile, increased competition from other international and regional bodies and fast-diminishing resources, now is surely the time.
If there's one question this CHOGM must answer, it's the nagging indifference of that pesky little 'So what?"