We’d seen in Uganda, DRC, CAR and South Sudan how music could be such an effective agent of social change. As Olivier Urbain, the author of Music and Conflict Transformation has written, “It is high time for the human brain and heart to join forces to explore and apply the power of music for peaceful and effective conflict transformation.” The Voice Project began supporting efforts around the globe where music was being used for dramatic social change. We sponsored TVP Global Ambassador, Ariana Delawari, in her award-winning efforts to use music and film to create positive social change in Afghanistan, including participating in the first ever all-girls rock concert in Kabul, as well as presenting at the first TED event in Afghanistan. The Voice Project also provided an operating funds grant to the HEARTBEAT youth group, bringing together Israeli and Palestinian youth musicians, an effort that has received the Europeans for Peace Award for Project of the Year. In all corners, we were seeing how effective music and art could be in promoting positive social change, and with incredible efforts examples having immediate effect, but we were also seeing something else…