Warm Hearts, Wider Change

Carol founded Warm Hearts in 2018, and she is a graduate of several online courses offered by Coady Institute including Community Based Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding (2021), and Introduction to Social Enterprises (2022), and Climate Basics for Community Resilience (2022). She was also a recipient of the Katherine Fleming International Development Award in 2021. The award is presented annually to an African woman leader in memory of Katherine Fleming a 1985 graduate of St. Francis Xavier University (1985), who dedicated her life’s work to overcoming child poverty in Africa until her death in 1999.

As a gender expert and peacebuilding consultant, Carol leads a range of community-driven efforts in Uganda that support women, youth, and vulnerable groups. To date, the foundation has reached more than 3,000 young people across several districts in Uganda, with plans to reach 5,000 by 2026. The organization works with youth aged 18 to 35, offering training in urban agriculture using recycled materials, legal clinics for women’s and children’s rights, mental health support, and life skills workshops in schools.

“We realized that Uganda’s employment challenge isn’t just about education,” Carol says. “It’s also about confidence, communication, and self-presentation. So, we train for those things too.”

Her approach blends grassroots pragmatism with deep empathy. Warm Hearts does not just respond to needs; it anticipates them. As Uganda hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world, Carol’s team equips youth to grow food in tight city spaces while also protecting the environment through creative reuse of plastic waste.

When Carol received the Katherine Fleming award, she had not yet met the team behind it. The award not only brought recognition but also brought responsibility.

“Katherine set a trend for us,” Carol says. “Even though I didn’t know her personally, I felt her legacy. It reminded me that I’m not the first, and I won’t be the last. We’re all adding bricks to a wall that others began.”

Carol goes on to elaborate that winning the award was like putting a crown on her head.

“It reminded me that the work we do behind closed doors is seen and it matters.”

Her legacy is already rippling out. Carol’s own children, and the young people she mentors, now see themselves reflected in her.

They say, “If mom can do it, we can too.”

Although Carol is deeply proud of the bridge her work provides between the person and the professional, she still faces problems with limited resources, staff, and structural barriers. Despite this, she continues to lead.

She’s a mother, a mentor, and a woman deeply familiar with the pressures of female leadership in Uganda.

“Sometimes, unpaid care work can break you,” she admits, reflecting on the juggling of home, leadership, and service.

“We survive, but sometimes, just barely. We take it one day at a time.”

Looking ahead, Carol hopes others who have received the Katherine Fleming award won’t simply receive accolades in isolation but remain connected.

“Let’s not go into oblivion,” she says. “Let’s build something together, so Katherine’s spirit doesn’t end with the award; it grows with it.”

With humility, humor, and relentless hope, Carol is not only changing lives but also building the kind of legacy that lasts.